The Cuban men’s team swept the Chilean team for the second time and advanced to the grand final of the XV Gatineau Volleyball Pan American Cup 2022, which takes place at the Slush Puppie Center, in Canada.

In just one hour and eight minutes, the Antilleans sealed the commitment of the semifinal round against the South Americans, with partials of 25-16, 25-20 and 25-21. Thus they added their fourth success in a row and in the same way.

Nicolás Vives’s students had no setbacks against a team that also dominated in the recent challenger cup, in South Korea, despite not fielding their starting center back Roamy Alonso.

His place was taken by the opposite Michael Sánchez, who showed the value of his experience, especially from the service line.

Collectively, Cuba had notable advantages in attacking (45-33), blocking (8-6) and serving (5-2), and their own errors were fewer (16-17).

Individually, Miguel Ángel López was the one who contributed the most to the offense with 18 points, of those 13 attacks, two blocks and three aces. He was escorted by the opposite Jesús Herrera with 15 (12-3-0) and also corner player Osniel Mergarejo with 11 (8-1-2).

Precisely El Ruso Sánchez contributed six goals (five attacks and one block), identical performance on par with him on this day, the central Liván Osoria. Setter Adrian Goide added two units. The top scorer was Chilean Vicente Parraguirre (20).

Cuba will face this Sunday, starting at five in the afternoon, the winner of the duel between the United States and Canada, in defense of the crown won in 2019 and for qualification for the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023.

We played well, it was a good game, we made some changes and the objective was achieved, to win, which is the most important thing. The United States or Canada, whoever our rival is, I think we will not have any problems. I am very happy with the performance of our team, declared Vives.

In other results this Saturday, Mexico beat the Dominican Republic 3-1 sets (25-14, 27-29, 25-18, 25-15) and will play fifth place against Puerto Rico, winner of the young team from Brazil in partial 25-23, 25-22 and 25-19.

Quisqueyanos and South Americans will fight not to be in the basement of the tournament.

(Taken from Jit)

In images of the arbitrary arrest, anyone can see how the police dragged him into a van, despite the protests of colleagues.

Is this not a clear violation of the free exercise of journalism and why does Reporters Without Borders (RSF) remain silent about this violation of free press rights?

A fallacious report by this organization recently ranked Cuba no.171 in terms of the existence of conditions for the exercise of press freedom, placing the island in last place in Latin America and the Caribbean.

RSF is a Paris-based organization and an unconditional supporter of the U.S. government, which has for years been characterized by its obsessive opposition to the Cuban Revolution, Bolivarian Venezuela, and Sandinista Nicaragua.

In 2005, the group participated in the campaign promoted by the George W. Bush administration to prevent tourists from traveling to Cuba. It should not be forgotten that the Bush Plan included a budget of five million dollars for NGOs to “carry out activities to dissuade tourists from travelling to Cuba.” Part of this ” booty” went into the coffers of the RSF.

For years, these “reporters” have devoted themselves to financing pseudo-journalists who work in the service of U.S. interests.

Their manifest bias in favor of Washington’s interests in Iraq, Libya, Haiti, Iran, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile is more than clear: year after year, in their fallacious reports, they condemn countries considered “enemies” of the U.S. or simply those who do not follow the dictates of the White House to the letter.

Where do these gentlemen, supposed defenders of freedom of the press and freedom of expression, acquire the substantial funding the organization has at its disposal?

Mr. Robert Ménard, one of the organization’s founders, a few years ago openly admitted having funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Ménard was very clear: “We do indeed receive money from the NED. And that poses no a problem for us.” [1]

RSF has never hidden its relationship to the world’s powerful. “One day we had a financial issue. I called the industrialist Francois Pinault to help us…. He immediately responded to my request. And that’s all that matters,” because “The law of gravity exists, dear friends. And also the law of money,” Menard stated callously. [2]

Reporters Without Borders is funded by the Dassault Group, by Hewlett Packard and the Overbrook Foundation, founded by Frank Altschul, which promotes Radio Free Europe; by Lagardère Publishing, the Hachette Foundation, the Open Society Institute and by the French daily Libération, and pockets substantial resources from the world’s largest media conglomerates.

RSF benefits from the money the U.S. government allocates every year to subvert the internal order in Cuba, through NED, USAID, Freedom House, the Center for a Free Cuba, the Cuban-American National Foundation, the Czech NGO People in Need, and other organizations that among the collection of institutions that serve to screen U.S. government and CIA attacks on the Cuban Revolution.

In a report dated January 15, 2004, the group exonerated the U.S. military from any responsibility for the murder of Spanish journalist José Couso and his Ukrainian colleague Taras Protsyuk at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. These “reporters” offered apologies for the invasion of Iraq on August 16, 2007 during the radio program “Contre-expertise,” and Robert Ménard, then the organization’s secretary general, legitimized the use of torture.

During the attempted coup against Hugo Chavez in April of 2002, they openly supported the plotters, as well as the coups against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Zelaya in Honduras, and Evo Morales in Bolivia.

The French daily Libération itself, the organization’s sponsor, noted that Reporters Without Borders does not say a word about the abuses of the Western media: “From now on, press freedom will either be exotic or won’t exist. Many reproach the group for its ferocity against Cuba and Venezuela, and indulgence toward the United States, which is not false.” [3]

Reporters Without Borders has an owner and has no borders when it comes to receiving money from the transnationals, the oligopolies, the rich of this world.

How can anyone be independent, as they proclaim, who subordinates their work and auctions off its morals and ethics to the dictates of the powerful? RSF is an organic part of the empire’s global apparatus, providing pretexts to justify aggression and demonize the enemies of capitalist hegemonic power.

In Context

-Between 1998 and 1999, the USAID Cuba Program devoted more than six million dollars to internal subversion in our country.

-In 2001 alone, there were more than 200 personal deliveries of funds to “activists” and “independent journalists,” estimated to be more than 100,000 dollars.

-Between fiscal years 2001 and 2006, the USAID allocated 61 million dollars to Cuba for some 142 projects.

-The Cuba Program was allocated more than 120 million USD between 2007 and 2013.

-The programs with the “Freedom of Information” label sponsored, between 2014 and 2017, some 39 projects, with an amount of more than six million dollars. NED contributed another two million.

-In 2018, NED gave Cubanet News Inc. $220,000 to promote “Freedom of Information,” $60,000 to Hypermedia Publishing Inc, $72,000 to the Institute of Communication and Development, and $65,000 to “integrate” Cuba with regional media networks (targeting young journalists).

-USAID and NED subversive programs against Cuba in the last fiscal year 2018-2019, include an estimated 70-plus projects promoted inside and outside the country, with an allocation of more than 14 million USD.

(Sources: Razones de Cuba, Cubainformación, writings by Salim Lamrani & Jean-Guy Allard)

In the preliminary report on the performance of Latin America and Caribbean economies in 2019, the United Nations agency indicates that in 2019 the region will grow only 0.1% on average, while growth projections for 2020 will remain low, around 1.3%. As a result, 2014-2020 would be the period of lowest growth for the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean in the last seven decades.

In terms of growth projections, according to the report, 23 out of 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (18 out of 20 in Latin America) will show a slowdown in their growth during 2019, while 14 nations will show an expansion of 1% or less by the end of the year.

Thus, the macroeconomic profile for recent years shows a trend toward decreasing economic activity, with a decline in per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), less investment, a drop in per capita consumption, lower exports and a sustained deterioration in the quality of employment.

Likewise, the report indicates that the region’s GDP per capita will have contracted by 4.0% between 2014 and 2019. Meanwhile, unemployment will increase from 8.0% in 2018 to 8.2% in 2019, which implies an increase of one million people without work, reaching a new high of 25.2 million.

For 2020, ECLAC projections indicate that Caribbean nations will continue to lead regional growth (with a sub-regional average of 5.6%).

According to the report, despite difficulties and constraints currently facing policy decision-making, most countries in the region are experiencing historically low inflation and maintain relatively high international reserves, while economies generally have access to international financial markets, and international interest rates are low. These conditions favor the implementation of macroeconomic policies directed toward reversing current low-growth rates, according to ECLAC.

(Granma)

She had last been seen hours before, arrested by the police. According to dozens of news outlets of all stripes, blogs, Facebook pages, twitter accounts, and other media. She been abused, tortured, her wrists broken, and killed.

More than a month after her death was denounced by many organizations that defend the rights of women and all human beings, it is disconcerting to read the opinions of those who cast doubt on the crime, in Chile and other Latin American countries that cause us pain,. They claim it was a suicide, although the photos and videos of her being found make this version hard to believe.

The same argument is presented to explain the death of journalist Albertina Martínez, 38, found in her apartment, with signs of beating and knife wounds. For certain people, accomplices of the media reporting that everything is fine, thousands of photos that speak for themselves, published by those who suffer, are not enough.

Savage repression, rapes, and beatings, expulsion of investigative media – including teleSUR and those from other countries not particularly sympathetic to our causes – cessation of all social projects. Absolute freedom to shoot, to kill, and then swear on the Bible, while making the Nazi gesture saluting the flag.

It is impossible to differentiate repressive forces in these countries; they seem (and are) the same: a torrent of water aimed at the face of an elderly man; a youth thrown to the ground with a knee to the chest; an indigenous woman, whose only weapon is her flag, attacked; other women are kicked, their clothes ripped off; a disabled person is dragged from his chair; a funeral procession dispersed with gas, leaving coffins on the ground; attacks on doctors, nurses, and members of the Red Cross treating the injured. Dozens of Chileans who will never see life again because they have lost an eye to a pellet gun, the list of horror and hate is endless.

What shame for humanity, and what shame for the hypocrites, shielded in their selfish lives, accomplices in silence, comfortable detractors using empty words, the domesticated who see this aggression as a soap opera, insensitive beings who believe themselves untouchable.

There is no forgiveness, no forgetting.

Not one woman or man more, not one less.

(Granma)

Eduardo Galeano’s words outline what happened on September 11, 1973, one of the most deeply engraved dates in the history of Chile, and of Our America. That day, after several hours of siege and bombing of Santiago de Chile’s La Moneda Presidential Palace, Chilean President Salvador Allende died under the fire of the coup plotters.

How did Allende die? The Military Junta declared the following day, September 12, 1973, that he had taken his own life.

Like a “glorious dead figure… riddled and ripped to pieces by the machine guns of Chile’s soldiers, who had betrayed Chile once more,” wrote Pablo Neruda from his deathbed on September 14.

“Under the enemy bullets, as a soldier of the Revolution,” his widow Hortensia Bussi said four days later in Mexico.

Whether the President died at the hands of the army personnel conducting the coup led by Pinochet, or took his own life before surrendering that September 11, 1973, the bullets that killed him – wherever they came from – perpetrated one of the most despicable magnicides in Latin American history.

Allende was buried secretly; only his widow was allowed to accompany his corpse. It is said that this brave, dignified man, resisted for six hours with a rifle the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, had given him – the first gun Salvador Allende ever fired.

Forty-five years have passed since Allende’s death. That night, the coup forces delivered a brief report to General Augusto Pinochet: “Mission accomplished. Moneda taken, President dead.” The Popular Unity coalition and its President had been annihilated, marking the beginning of 17 years of military dictatorship.

As leader of the Chilean left, Salvador Allende won the presidential elections of 1970 and implemented a policy of nationalizations of the mining and industrial sectors. In the midst of an economic crisis in 1973, his support was confirmed in parliamentary elections, which led to the violent intervention of the army in the country’s political life.

During his first year in office, 47 industrial companies and more than half of the banking system were nationalized. With the agrarian reform, some 2,400,000 hectares of productive land were expropriated and became social property.

Salvador Allende was the first Marxist politician in the West to come to power through general elections in a democratic state.

“The most dramatic contradiction of his life was being at the same time the congenital foe of violence and a passionate revolutionary. He believed that he had resolved the contradiction with the hypothesis that conditions in Chile would permit a peaceful evolution toward socialism under bourgeois legality,” Gabriel García Márquez recalled in the article “Why Allende had to die.”

These were, in brief, his true crimes, those which imperialism and the most reactionary, extreme right of Chile and the region could not forgive the charismatic leader for, supported by the majority of the people.

THE MOST CONVENTIONAL OF WARS

A coup d’état, assassinations, a blow to democracy, a threat to sovereignty, a proxy government, a puppet, a suffering people… all this happened in Chile more than four decades ago. Yet today, we are faced with similar threats.

The reality is clear: progressive countries of the continent are victims of destabilizing attempts that seek to generate chaos in the streets, to the point of provoking the final blow.

Soft coups and unconventional warfare represent the Condor Plan of today in Latin America. This time, our enemies are not persecuting a Chile full of copper, but attacking consciences, wills, manipulating reality with falsehood and lies.

In the documents that govern the political life of the United States, unconventional warfare (abbreviated UW) is defined as “Activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt, or overthrow a government or occupying power by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary, and guerrilla force in a denied area,” as explained by the Doctor of Legal Sciences and National Security researcher Hugo Morales Karell.

“In the last decade, UW has emerged as the most feasible means used by the United States and its allies to overthrow governments contrary to their interests,” Morales continued. There have been many variants: pretexts to generate anti-government demonstrations and popular discontent due to the economic, political, and social situation of a nation, intervention in countries’ internal affairs by third countries alleging supposed humanitarian crises or human rights violations, and the promotion of a supposed internal opposition.

There are many examples, even recognized by the United States in its doctrinal documents: Albania and Latvia (1951-1955); Tibet (1955-1970); Indonesia (1957-1958); Cuba and the Bay of Pigs invasion (April 1961); Laos (1959-1962); North Vietnam (1961-1964); Nicaragua and Honduras (1980-1988); Pakistan and Afghanistan (1980-1991), and Iraq (2002-2003). To these can be added the cases of Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, in which the objective of halting the advance of the progressive left in the region is obvious.

These are the realities of today. While there may be no gunboats, drones, bombs or militarily interventions, the attacks continue. Today, well-rehearsed manipulation of young people, making use of the benefits provided by information and communications technologies and intense media campaigns to exert political pressure results, as Professor Karell stressed, in “the most conventional of wars.”

But we shouldn’t be in any doubt: imperialist forces will return again and again to the use of brutal force and the cruel assassination of leaders like Allende whenever it is in their interests and they are lacking the means to defeat the peoples and governments that are an “inconvenience” and attempt to challenge their hegemony.

(Granma)

March 19 saw the first day of the round of oral hearings in the case. In this context, the indigenous leader held a press conference during which he called on the Court to “solve the problems between Bolivia and Chile and around the world.”

Meanwhile, the President also indicated that certain groups will try to “belittle” Bolivia’s defense before the Court, “But we are only asking Chile to comply with its provisions.”

The oral hearings are part of a process that has been ongoing at the ICJ for almost five years, after Bolivia filed a lawsuit in 2013, demanding that Chile negotiate the country’s sovereign access to the sea.

Today, Bolivia will continue to present its case. March 21 will see a recess, before Chile presents its arguments on the 22nd and 23rd, as Prensa Latina reported.

Bolivia lost its access to the sea after the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), a conflict involving Chile, Bolivia, and Peru, which resulted in Chilean annexation of valuable disputed territory on the Pacific coast.

(Granma)

The commitment by both countries was announced as part of a summary of Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno’s visit to Chile to attend the inauguration ceremony of Chilean president-elect Sebastian Piñera, together with a delegation that included Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa and other officials.

The Foreign Relations and Human Mobility Ministry considered the talks between the two Heads of State as useful.

Espinosa emphasized that in the first conversation he described as ‘extensive and very productive’, the two leaders reviewed the bilateral agenda and they specified commitments to consolidate the links in diverse matters.

The same way, the two sides recognized there’s been progress in exchanges of positive experiences in topics such as maternal-infantile health and education, among others, and also they spoke about electrical interconnection, as well as about harmony and energy sovereignty in the region.

During the visit to Santiago de Chile Moreno held bilateral meetings with other dignitaries and foreign ministers of Latin-American and Caribbean states, aimed at strengthening integration mechanism and the nations’ commitment to them.

Among other meetings, Espinosa talked to Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

(Prensa Latina)

Speaking to Granma International, Lanfranco expressed his deep love for the country, marked by countless experiences accumulated over 50 years struggling for Latin American liberation, looking to Cuban socialism as a key example.

He explained that the solidarity efforts of Chileans were only interrupted following the coup against the constitutional government of President Salvador Allende in 1973 by a military junta led by General Augusto Pinochet. As the period of dictatorship came to an end in the 1980s, solidarity efforts resumed and have been maintained to date.

“Our main demands,” stated the Chilean activist, “are the same as those expressed by the revolutionary government in the international arena, such as demanding an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States; the return of the territory occupied in Guantánamo, where an illegal U.S prison is based; spreading the truth about Cuba; refuting misleading media campaigns; and promoting visits to the island.”

The group organizes contingents to visit the country, invited by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), and which normally travel with the South American Cuba Solidarity Brigade in January, the May Day group visiting during celebrations for International Workers’ Day, or Latin American and Caribbean delegations, among others. He noted that Chilean solidarity contingents have their own independent directorates who organize activities across the country’s 15 provinces, all tailored to the area where they are based.

Also a member of the National Ex-Political Prisoners Association’s Tatty Allende group, Lanfranco added, “This 2017 we are mobilizing to carry forward the thought of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz. We will also be participating in a national encounter in the month of June to organize work strategies and activities.

“As such we will be thinking about how to work together to resist the imperialist policies dictated by the White House and remain alert to the evolution of Donald Trump’s government.”

As a young man Lanfranco was an active member of Chile’s Communist Youth, later joining the country’s Communist Party in the 1960s, which is why he has visited Cuba on six occasions, most recently to participate in the posthumous tribute to Fidel Castro Ruz; accompanying the caravan which transported the Comandante en Jefe’s ashes to Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, where they were laid to rest on December 4, 2016.

“This year I want to bring a group of Chileans to enroll in a course given by the Federation of Cuban Women. Another delegation will also visit the island to participate in the May Day parade in Santiago de Cuba’s Antonio Maceo Plaza de la Revolución. These delegates will also attend the Romerías de Mayo celebrations in the city of Holguín.”

According to Lanfranco, Chileans will also take advantage of these exchanges to pay tribute to José Martí, Simón Bolívar, Fidel Castro, and other Latin American predecessors, which is why delegations will adopt the name of former socialist President Salvador Allende or Gladys Marín, ex-secretary-general of the Communist Party of Chile.

The activist from Latin America concluded by noting that Cuba will continue to be an example of a moral, fraternal, and solidary attitude, with an international commitment to building the type of society to which it aspires: one of greater justice for the people. “Cuba is a beacon which lights and guides all of us who are fighting for a different world.”

(Granma)

Have you participated in other non-medical related tasks?

At the beginning of the mission we were helping neighbors remove the mud from their homes, in order to give us the opportunity to provide medical consulations to these people and thus accelerate the treatment process.

We are working in the Pintores de Chile community in Copiapó. At a second stage we were setting up our field tents in the El Salado community, where we stayed for 10 days. The rest of the time we were providing medical care to the community.

How have Chilean professionals, national or international medical organizations, and graduates from the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) supported the brigade?

On April 9, we received Dr.Carmen Castillo, Chilean minister of health; and Communist Party member, Lautaro Carmona; accompanied by Cuban ambassador in Chile, Adolfo Curbelo, and other local officials. They explained the outlook of the situation in the region.

We presented a proposal to them for a community work strategy focusing on epidemiological care. Later we integrated ourselves into the locality’s health system, collaborating with personnel from the epidemiology department. We are working with colleagues affiliated with the Diego de Almagro Community Hospital.

In n addition, we have received support from ELAM graduates since the days immediately following the disaster. They are working voluntarily and making an extraordinary effort, sometimes traveling hundreds of kilometers from the south of the country and requesting vacation time from their jobs.

How has the population reacted to the Cuban doctors?

We have received expressions of gratitude and love from the population in every locality we have worked in. The people have been very hospitable and are always attentive to our needs, so as to provide us with an appropriate solution, above all, so we don’t get cold, as that is the type of weather which most affects us.

We have been working on the ground, going from house to house in every community. Our aim is to complete a detailed investigation of the main health problems affecting inhabitants. We are supported by the leaders and experts of the region, and are acquiring comprehensive information from medical files. Likewise we are formulating action plans in order to provide an adequate solution to every situation.

All aspects of the work and cooperation carried out, both in regards to the contribution of the authorities and the population, have been positive; the members of the brigade are professionals, with a great humanitarian consciousness, are motivated, disciplined and committed to the task we have undertaken, we are a large family in which we all support and cooperate with each other.

The most striking thing is seeing the number of destroyed buildings; and how people who have lost everything or almost everything, continue to work tirelessly to repair their homes or try to salvage a few personal items.

What is the situation in regards to communication with Cuban authorities and family members?

Communication with family members via email and telephone has been continual. Efforts are made to facilitate communication on special occasions, such as Mother’s Day which was celebrated recently, or a relation’s birthday.

Communication with the Cuban health authorities has been constant, every day we receive information from the central unit for medical collaboration with the personnel from the institution and the Ministry of Public Health expressing continual concern for the families of the collaborators and the health of every member of the brigade.

(Granma)

“Our lawyers were clear and strong. I am proud of our delegation for the excellent presentation and defense they did, both national and international lawyers who represented us, “Morales told reporters.

However, the president admitted that will be necessary to wait until later this year to know about the ruling of the aforementioned Court, although he reaffirmed his confidence in it and the possibility to take decisions wisely.

The leader reiterated that with the demand for access to the sea at the court of The Hague in April 2013, Bolivia seeks peaceful solutions for ‘ history, justice, right and reason’ and affirmed that the world supports the position of his country.

He further recalled that they intend to prove that the Chilean authorities offered at that time, voluntarily, a sovereign access of Bolivia to the Pacific Ocean.

Bolivia for the first time managed to make Chile report, before an International Legal Institution aimed at making his country agree to sit down to hold talks peacefully and civilized in the conflict.

Bolivia was born as a republic in 1825, bordering the Pacific Ocean, but a Chilean invasion, in February 1879, snatched 120 000 square kilometers of territory rich in minerals and 400 kilometers of coastline.

(Prensa Latina)