Through his official Twitter account, the Foreign Minister extended his condolences to the relatives and friends of the deceased.

According to German authorities, so far there are 19 dead and 70 people missing due to the rains and floods that hit the western part of the country.

In the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, six houses collapsed and 25 suffered partial collapses, while in some areas inhabitants await air rescue.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

“We deeply regret the death of the President of the Republic of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse. We strongly condemn the violent act that caused his death, and convey our condolences to family members and the sister people of Haiti. We call for peace,” the Cuban President stated in a message on Twitter.

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated between midnight and dawn in an armed attack. The country’s interim Prime Minister, Claude Joseph, confirmed the news in a statement.

Around one o’clock in the morning, a group of individuals attacked the President’s private residence and mortally wounded him, Joseph’s statement indicates.

(Taken from Granma)

A similar message was sent by Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla: “Our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of U.S. political leader and activist Ramsey Clark. His impeccable record in defense of justice merits respect and admiration.”

The renowned jurist died at the age of 93, and Cubans remember him for his support to the struggles for the freedom of the Five and for the return of Elián González. He was awarded Cuba’s Friendship Medal in 2013, in recognition of his courageous attitude.
Fernando González thanked Clark for his valuable support during the battle to free the Cuban Five. Photo: Juvenal Balán

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza likewise stated, in a tweet, that Clark confronted imperialism and was never afraid to denounce it, calling him “a friend of the Bolivarian Revolution and a tireless defender of peace and human rights.”

(Taken from Granma)

His trajectory since the 1960s was one of admirable personal integrity and fidelity to the principles that made him one of the most respected personalities of the American progressive movement.

Attorney General of the United States during the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, he played a key role in the approval and application of the Civil Rights Act, a decisive step in eliminating discrimination against African-Americans in electoral matters. He also accompanied Johnson in his efforts to ensure affordable health care for all. Both issues were flags that “liberals” raised but with increasingly hesitant hands while their elimination has become a priority for Trump and his supporters.

Ramsey for his part became a point of reference for those who did not abandon the ideals of freedom and true democracy.

He opposed the war against the Vietnamese people to the point that the President excluded him from the National Security Council despite the fact that his participation in that body derived from the high office he held.

Outside the government, Ramsey waged a tireless battle to stop this aggression, which generated a growing mobilization not only in his country but throughout the world, and to which he contributed as few others did. Not only with speeches and declarations. Of special significance was his physical, personal presence on Vietnamese soil in open violation of Washington’s official prohibition.

He had an exceptional capacity for work and delivering solidarity was for him a mission to which he gave his all. No cause was alien to him.

We Cubans owe him a great debt. Our cause was also his. His voice was raised time and again to denounce the blockade and the war that the Empire is waging against us in all fields.

His participation in the campaign to free Elián González and in the hard, complex and prolonged struggle for the liberation of our Five Heroes was decisive. Personally, as long as I live I will thank him for his help and from the bottom of my heart I say Thank you for everything dear friend, brother, compañero.

Starting from scratch, film after film, Raúl Pérez Ureta got better, working to become an essential director of photography, to whose death, at 79 years of age, we can only respond by putting a hand to the chest and taking a long bow.

Pérez Ureta is the architect, in images, of a good number of Cuban films that remained forever in the imagination of viewers. The composition of lighting, shots, counterplanes, angles, the blessed magical ability to capture the aesthetic thinking of directors, suggesting variants and even going beyond the original proposals.

The story of this modest, deliberate man is that of many young people who, following the triumph of the Revolution, had the opportunity to change the uncertain destiny he had previously faced, given his humble origins.

From the foothills of the Escambra, he came to Havana to work as a janitor who one good day decided to knock on the door of the new Cuban Film Institute (Icaic). He got started by doing whatever was needed – assistant cameraman for cartoons – until Santiago Alvarez ran into him in a hallway, desperate because he urgently needed a soundman. The young Raúl assured him that he knew more than he really did, and from then on, became a member of the impetuousdirector’s crew.

An entire school of young people learned to do things on the fly alongside Alvarez, especially in the production of the Noticiero Icaic newsreel. This was where Pérez Ureta made his great contribution, as cameraman for more than 800 editions between1965 and 1984.

His resume includes work as head of photography for more than forty documentaries (and the same number as cameraman or soundman) and, his greatest achievement, as director of photography, in seventy fictional works in which he left an imprint of the highest quality. Suffice it to mention, among them, La película de Ana, Mujer transparente, La vida es silbar, Un paraíso bajo las estrellas, Martí, el ojo del canario, Suite Habana, Amor vertical and Hacerse el sueco.

Raúl contributed to international cinematography, as well, for many years simultaneously teaching at the San Antonio de los Baños International Film School.

In 2010, he became the first cinematographer in Cuba to win the National Film Award and today, on the occasion of his departure, it is comforting to say goodbye to this man and friend, recalling how he lived his life and left a remarkable body of work.

(Taken from Granma)

Three Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) lieutenant colonels, Ernesto Verdecia Diaz, Luis Miguel Gonzalez and Nivaldo Garcia Herrera were laid to rest alongside heroes, martyrs and combatants who also fell in defense of the homeland, with FAR and Ministry of the Interior leaders on hand, as well as other compañeros.

Similar events were held to honor First Lieutenant Osnelvis Martínez Reyes, in Dos Caminos, in the municipality of San Luis, Santiago de Cuba province, and to First Warrant Officer Yoannis Alarcón Ramírez, in Río Cauto, Granma.

Floral tributes from the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution, relatives and friends were also delivered to the ceremonies.

(Taken from Granma)

Rosa Aurora Freijanes was married to Fernando González Llort, one of the Cuban Five. On multiple occasions, she strongly denounced the obstacles that the U.S. government imposed on her visits to see Fernando and the rigged judicial process that convicted him and his brothers.

Journalist Arleen Rodriguez Derivet commented on Facebook: “A quintessential Cuban woman has left us, a woman with a strong soul and delicate health, transparent and sweet as her blue eyes. Rosa Aurora Freijanes Coca spoke, even without speaking, with her intelligent and clear, honest and sympathetic look. She had a sharp sense of humor and a tender and firm sense of affection and friendship. She fled from cameras and microphones, from lights and mirrors.

“She knew no vanity even when the world revered her as one of the spouses of the Five. But once she accepted the challenge of going up to a podium to explain the truth about Cuba, she moved the audience to tears with her sincere words, with the deep tenderness of her heart.
Rosa Aurora (left) with Elizabeth Palmeiro, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, her sisters in the struggle for the freedom of the Cuban Five. Photo: Yander Zamora

“She was the mother who could not be of her beloved nephews and the daughters and sons of her friends: Adriana Pérez, Olga Salanueva and Elizabeth Palmeiro, her sisters in the struggle for the freedom of the Five.

“I reached out to them, to her loving sister Mary and the rest of her family, the heartfelt embrace of those of us who knew, admired and loved that girl who was always cheerful, even in the midst of the worst circumstances, especially when the chords of her favorite songs were playing (Tu fantasma or Rosana) with the guitar and voice of their creator, Silvio Rodríguez.”

(Taken from Granma)

The statement has the effect of a gunshot in the middle of a concert.

How is it possible to spoil his style this way?

Does the President know anything about the human relations Maradona shared with Fidel and Chávez?

We Cubans know them very well, and thus we have the right to be offended.

We can start by clarifying that these relations were not “visits,” since the meetings were repeated over the course of many years, at any time of the day or night. Encounters during which the mutual admiration of brothers was evident cannot be described as visits.

All the images, words, statements inside and outside the country – many over a long period of time – are very well remembered and, since the death of the Argentinean star, of current interest around the world, where they are recalled as a testimony of an unconditional brotherhood, because Maradona not only identified with the causes of the humble inherent in any Revolution that respects itself, but also defended them until the last minute of his life.

Why then offend the memory of our number 10 and assert that these visits will leave a “bitter taste of defeat?”

Bitter taste for whom, and from what point of view?

Why recognize Maradona’s revolution only on the field and not beyond?

With the greatest respect for President Macron, we must remind him that there are plenty of examples related to these sincere friendships that will go down in history without idle comment, examples that – as Voltaire said – “correct much better than reprimands.”

(Taken From Granma)

Prensa Latina reports that the Cuban leaders expressed their concern upon hearing news of damages caused by the heavy rains and floods in Vietnam’s central provinces.

The missives were sent to Nguyen Phu Trong, secretary general of the Communist Party and President of Vietnam, stating: “On behalf of the Party, the government and the people of Cuba, we convey our most sincere condolences, which we extend to the families of victims.”

Earlier this month, several successive storms had hit the country’s central provinces, leaving 130 deaths and considerable material damage. Just as the recovery had begun, a typhoon struck the region on Wednesday, with losses yet to be quantified.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

In the statement that announced his death, the head of that court, John Roberts, said that the United States lost a jurist of historic stature and all the magistrates “have lost a dear companion.”

Today we are in mourning, but we are confident that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her, a tireless and determined champion of justice , added the magistrate.

Nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993, Ginsburg was the oldest judge of the nine who make up the Supreme Court .

The judge had been in that instance for almost three decades, and became the second woman in history to hold a position in this court , after dedicating her career to the defense of women’s causes and civil rights.

Before the November 2016 presidential election, Bader Ginsburg, considered the liberal leader of the high court, called Donald Trump a “phony”, prompting the real estate mogul to demand her resignation and she was forced to recant having issued that opinion.

The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges with life positions and currently five are considered conservative and four liberal.

Experts point to the possibility that a few weeks before the general elections on November 3, President Trump will immediately appoint the replacement of Ginsburg; the Senate also in a quick move could confirm the nomination and thus the Republicans manage to maintain a conservative majority .

About an hour after a Supreme Court spokesman confirmed Ginsburg’s death from pancreatic cancer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to allow an Upper House vote to endorse his possible take over if Trump nominates another magistrate for the job .

However, the leader of the Senate Democratic minority, Charles Schumer, said that the post that Ginsburg vacated after her death should be filled with a nomination of the candidate of one or the other party that wins the November presidential elections .

In practical terms, Trump now has the opportunity to transform the Supreme Court from a fragile conservative majority of 5-4 to a dominant supermajority of 6-3, which could have long-term implications that would affect the daily life of the country, notes this Friday the newspaper The Hill.

(With information from Prensa Latina)