In undertaking such promising research, neuroscientists sought to better understand the role played by each of the structures of the most complex organ in the human body, how they participate in the work of the brain as a whole, the behavior of neuronal interconnections and other enigmas yet to be revealed, in order to advance in the early diagnosis of neurological and psychiatric disease, to achieve more effective treatments.

To learn about the state of studies on the subject at the international level and what Cuba has done in this field, Granma reached out to Doctor of Science Pedro Valdés Sosa, researcher at the Center for Neurosciences of Cuba, head of the Cuban Brain Mapping Project and director of the China-Cuba Joint Neurotechnology Laboratory created in July 2015 and based in the city of Chengdu.
-What features distinguish brain mapping projects and what are the most relevant findings?
-In brain research today, practically all sciences converge, from molecular biology, genetics, bioinformatics, mathematics, physics and neurosciences in general to psychological and social studies.

The main feature of the global projects is the spatial mapping of the organ in all its aspects, which include, for example, epigenetics, proteomics, blood flow, and electrical and magnetic activity.

Thanks to the vertiginous advance of technology in neuroimaging, it is now possible to make brain maps in three dimensions.
These can vary over time, from one milliseconds to another, or last a lifetime.
Based on the development of another currently prominent branch of science, neuroinformatics, databases are created from neuro-images and other data, the processing and analysis of which have become vital to the work of researchers.

Given that gene and pharmacological therapies cannot completely eliminate the disabling motor effects of cerebrovascular accidents and other events, neurosciences are opening new perspectives to improve the quality of life of persons with these limitations, putting solutions within the reach of medicine that were once conceived only in the realm of science fiction, like the creation of bionic organs, electronic devices capable of inter-acting with the nervous system, etc.
Among the main results of brain mapping projects, which have reached an unprecedented level of detail, is the creation of the most accurate brain map of the motor cortex, linked to movement, by the Allen Institute, in the United States.

Plus, the reconstruction of the brain of a deceased woman, in a computer with a resolution of 20 microns, made by the scientist
Alan Evans of the Montreal Neurological Institute, Canada,
and Katrin Amunts, scientific director of the European Brain Project.

This atlas is known as the Big Brain, which is enriched with data from multiple sources, a project in which Cuba and the Chinese-Cuban Joint Laboratory are actively collaborating.
I must emphasize that the totality of the data obtained by the different brain mapping projects are openly shared, as part of the Open Science movement, accompanied with the Free Software movement. These resources are vital for Public Health and the development of biotechnology.”
-How is the Cuban brain mapping project going?
-Cuba was among the first nations in which scientists conducted a brain mapping project, in the1990s, but only with the use of electro-encephalograms.

We then undertook a second phase in 2004, in which we incorporated magnetic resonance imaging.

In 2019 we became the only nation to have a governmental National Science and Technology Program on the brain.
Our project maintains strong links of exchange and collaboration with the rest of the brain mapping projects currently underway in the world. In certain areas, our work is recognized by the international community in this field.

Some of the relevant contributions include having managed to characterize the cortical thickness and brain connections of the typical Cuban, for an age range of 15 to 60 years of age, information used in the study of patients with epilepsy, language disorders, violent behaviors, schizophrenia and several neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.”
-What results has the China-Cuba Joint Laboratory of Neurotechnology produced?
-The Laboratory’s research has contributed significantly to global brain mapping projects, and was the subject of more than 60 scientific articles published in impact journals such as Nature

Scientific Data, and most recently in the National Science Review, addressing the effects of covid-19 on the brain, and as part of a collaboration that led to a recent article in Nature.
Under the Laboratory’s guidance, a high-performance computing node was created for the processing of neuroinformatics data from the collaborative project between Cuba, China and Canada, related to the early detection of neurological ailments and the management of brain aging, the establishment of an academic station for Precision Medicine, in which five Academians of Merit from the Cuban Academy of Sciences are participating.”

(Taken from Granma)

The decision reflects the excellent performance of the province’s people in the economic, political and social spheres, to which all sectors consistently contributed.
Economically the province has distinguished itself with the development of productive agricultural poles and the diversification of crops. Although it did not reach projections for the recently completed sugar harvest, stable results have been maintained over the last three years.

Housing program plans have been completed and the local production of construction materials increased.

In the sphere of services, the territory has made encouraging progress in the development of tourism, transportation, domestic commerce and computerization.
Progress in education, culture, health and sports has been made, and remarkable work was done in confronting COVID-19 and maintaining stability in health indicators.
Notable advances have been achieved in community cultural work, artistic education and the preservation of heritage sites.

Science and innovation institutions, led by the Party and government, with the active participation of Carlos Rafael Rodríguez University, had a favorable impact in a variety of sectors and local development projects.

The main political processes and programs of the Revolution have enjoyed broad popular support and participation.

Progress made in government work was noted during the last review conducted in the territory by the country’s national leadership.

In congratulating the province of Cienfuegos, the Political Bureau extends heartfelt recognition to the entire Cuban people, who have risen to the occasion in the face of adversity and starred in one of the most beautiful pages of heroism and dedication in defense of the nation and our colossal social justice project, despite continuous imperialist aggression.

For all these reasons, and more, the Political Bureau calls for commemorations of National Rebellion Day with great revolutionary and patriotic spirit, in close unity around the Party.

(Taken from Granma)

The name shouted August 5, 27 years ago on the corner of Prado and Malecón emerged anew last July 11, with the same power, when I saw a group, that had just failed in its attempt to take the Capitol, back away when confronted with the image of the Comandante. In Cuba in the summer of 1994, Cuba’s economic panorama was dire, following the disappearance of trade with the Soviet Union, which eliminated the source of more than 70% of the country’s foreign currency income: power outages lasted more than 12 hours, a dwindling food supply turned a phrase from a popular soap opera, “Hey girl, say hello to your boyfriend,” into a synonym for rice and beans, the most frequently available dish, along with other Creole inventions such as soy meat and goose paste, while access to the few cafes that sold hamburgers was organized by neighborhood Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, with priority given pregnant women and the elderly. Public transportation practically disappeared, to be replaced by the massive use of bicycles, despite caloric intake that was decreasing day by day. Solitary cans of clams in shop windows were the last evidence of a state market in Cuban pesos, which had once satisfactorily complemented food made available to all via the basic supply booklet. As of July 26, 1993, the dollar had been decriminalized, and the minority with access to USD was a little better off, although the power cuts had the same impact on everyone. The workers’ parliaments, as Fidel named them with full class-based intentionality, had approved a series of measures that in the end, would devalue the Cuban peso, which at that time was trading at 150 to the dollar, and would make it possible to begin the recovery. But at the time, despair, irritation and discontent was reaching critical mass for what Miami had been awaiting for decades, and a journalist, who still has the gall to continue publishing articles in media such as El Nuevo Herald, thought he would make a name for himself by writing a book entitled The Last Hour of Fidel Castro. For several weeks the hijackings of boats encouraged by radio broadcasts from the United States had created a tense situation in neighborhoods near the port of Havana. On the morning of August 5, 1994, at the provincial headquarters of the Young Communists League (UJC), we were passionately discussing whether or not we should move from denunciation to mobilization, when reality imposed its demands and we decided to go see the National Committee of our organization, at its office located right where the Avenida del Puerto begins. The first shock came when I saw a woman shouting at someone who passed in front of us on San Lazaro Street, heading for Old Havana, in the sidecar of a motorcycle: “Take off that T-shirt, they’re going to kill you.” She apparently thought that, in those circumstances, the revolutionary words on the man’s shirt could make the difference between life and death, and I, although wearing a muted striped pullover, had often shouted the same phrase, looked at her for a moment, not without fear, thinking that the logo displayed on the vehicle in which we were traveling could mean the same fate as the one predicted by the terrified passerby for the motorcyclist, who had preceded us through the previously quiet streets of downtown Havana. Some garbage bins, I suppose placed by those who started the riot, were trying to cut off traffic, but we reached our destination. In the vicinity of the UJC National Committee, at Missiones, Prado and Avenida del Puerto, off Maximo Gomez Park, a crowd of people had formed, who obviously, based on what they shouted, were not on our side. Others, in the role of curious observers, watched silently, and a lone policeman was shooting into the air, while protecting his patrol car, parked next to the Castillo de La Punta. Those of us gathering there – cadres and workers from different branches of the UJC, including myself – began to move around shouting revolutionary slogans, the most repeated of which was “Viva Fidel!” Still in the minority, we saw how we were gaining ground, some watched in silence and others retreated. Rocks rained down around us, but no one confronted us directly, and as we reached the corner of Prado and Malecón, we saw the arrival of trucks from the Blas Roca Contingent. (We learned later that one of its members lost an eye that day, when he was hit by an object thrown from a nearby building.) Going up Prado, the situation was confusing. Thousands of people had filled the street, when comments began to be heard about Fidel coming that way. It took only a few seconds before, indeed, three olive green jeeps, covered with cloth and absolutely vulnerable to any violence, arrived in the middle of the turmoil, and the Comandante climbed out of the second. As if by magic, the rocks disappeared and an enormous roar emerged from our throats, now even more certain of victory: “Fidel, Fidel!” In the midst of that out-of-control melee, anyone could have come within a meter of him, to hurt him and trigger the hatred incited by lies and propaganda, but there he was. Serene, speaking slowly and in a low voice, asking about the situation in nearby areas, saying that it would be preferable for us to suffer the dead, surely already thinking about the counterattack he would launch against the empire, to once again turn a setback into a victory. It was there that he began the systematic offensive against U.S. policy toward Cuba, which would continue in several televised appearances and put Bill Clinton’s administration on the defensive, forcing him to sign an immigration agreement with Cuba on short order. Barely a week later, on August 13, Fidel’s birthday, the UJC organized a concert at the same corner of Prado and Malecón, in which several of the participating musicians ended their performances with the same “Viva Fidel!” that resounded days earlier during those tremendous hours. On the first anniversary of these events, speaking at the same site, the Comandante would close a demonstration that, as part of the International Solidarity Youth Festival, entitled Cuba Vive, had marched along the Havana waterfront from G Street to La Punta. He called for the resumption of World Youth and Student Festivals, to advance the struggle for peace and anti-imperialist solidarity. The young participants, like those who participated in Cuba Vive, would stay in the homes of Havana residents, and would share with them a week of political and social activities. Fidel’s counter-offensive continued to advance and, as usual, was not limited to resisting imperialism or defeating it within Cuba. The battlefield was the world, and there he would be, as always, disputing U.S. hegemony. This past July 11, I remembered that August 5, when, on the corner of Galiano and Neptuno, I saw a poster of Fidel raised by someone in the group of us defending the Revolution there, led by decorated Hero of the Republic and national coordinator of the CDRs, Gerardo Hernandez. The cheers and the name shouted 27 years earlier, on the corner of Prado and Malecón, emerged anew last July 11, with the same power. I am not lying when I say that I saw a group – that had just failed in their attempt to take the Capitol – back away, when confronted with the image of the Comandante surrounded by Cuban flags, and think better of attempting to advance along Neptuno Street. And the fact is that Fidel’s counter-offensive is still alive and accompanies us in today’s battles. I remembered it again when, at the Tokyo Olympics, boxer Julio César La Cruz shouted the same exact words worn by the unknown comrade who was warned: “They’re going to kill you.” Patria o Muerte! Venceremos! (Homeland or Death! We will win!) (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.

By Randy Alonso Falcón, director de Cubadebate

The apprehensions raised in some countries by the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, the US dirty campaign against the Russian Sputnik V and the confirmed refusal of the most powerful nations to let their pharmaceutical companies temporarily release the patents of their antidotes against COVID-19, have further strained the availability of vaccines and deepened the profound differences in the right to life between the powerful and the poor in this world.

Never before has a health emergency struck so many in so many places and in such a short space of time. COVID-19 has already affected more than 120 million people in the world and has caused the death of more than 2.6 million human beings.

Such a universal challenge warranted a global and coordinated response. But once again, in addition to the demands of the UN and the World Health Organization, nationalism, pettiness, the overwhelming power of transnational corporations and every person for themselves, have prevailed.

Vaccines seem to be the only effective barriers against the pandemic. Only a majority immunization of the world’s population could put a stop to the growing transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. But neither the pharmaceutical transnationals nor the governments of the rich world have that vocation for collective response and global solidarity.
Who can develop and produce vaccines?

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry suffers from high concentration and transnationalization. Large companies from developed countries and emerging economies monopolize drug research, production and distribution. Nine of them are among the 100 companies that generate the highest revenues worldwide.

According to Euromonitor Global, the pharmaceutical industry is responsible for almost 4% of global production activity. If it were a country, it would be among the 15 richest economies on the planet. Almost half of the sector’s total sales come from China and the USA, followed by Switzerland, Japan, Germany and France.

The production of vaccines, in particular, concentrates in 4 large firms more than 80% of the market, according to 2019 data: the British GlaxoSmithKline, the American Merck Sharp & Dohme and Pfizer, and the French Sanofi.

That global market generated in 2018 some $37 billion and it is estimated that by 2027 it will exceed 6$4.5 billion.

As is remarkable, underdeveloped nations -which are the vast majority-, have hardly any capacity to develop their own vaccines (Cuba is one of the few honorable exceptions) and no productive capacities of their own. This has left them with little room for maneuver to influence the uneven development of vaccines in the midst of the pandemic.
How have the vaccines against COVID-19 been financed?

Since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, it has been calling for a concerted and joint solution to the threat. But the wrathful logic of the market dictates the course of our world and what has taken place since then is a frantic race to hit the bull’s eye (immune and financial), in which there has been no shortage of obstacles, pressures and even blackmail.

From the outset, the major powers allied themselves with the major pharmaceutical corporations in order to conveniently manage the discovery of a solution that would allow them to emerge with an advantage from the health and economic crisis ravaging the world.

Governments provided at least $8.6 billion for vaccine development, according to analyst firm Airfinity. The US, EU and UK invested billions in AstraZeneca’s vaccine, developed by Oxford University. Germany invested $445 million in the vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech. Moderna’s vaccine was fully funded and co-produced by the U.S. government.

While philanthropic organizations contributed $1.9 billion. Individual personalities such as Bill Gates, Alibaba founder Jack Ma and country music star Dolly Parton made contributions.

Only $3.4 billion has come from the pharma companies’ own investment, part of which has also come from external funding.

Despite the fact that Big Pharma has only provided one third of the funding, who is reaping the economic benefits? Who has set the rules of the game in the distribution of vaccines?
Foul Play

To obtain the vaccine against COVID became, beyond the health interest, a geopolitical objective. Whoever managed to get the vaccine would capitalize on its commoditization and whoever had more financial resources would be able to monopolize more immunizations.

Scandalous was the news of the Trump administration’s maneuver, as early as March 2020, for the German company CureVac -which had begun to research a possible vaccine-, to leave its headquarters in the European country and move to the U.S. in exchange for “large amounts of money”.

As it had also acquired PCR tests, pulmonary ventilators, masks and biosafety equipment, Washington also set out from the beginning to acquire the production and distribution of vaccines.

This was coupled with sometimes subtle, sometimes overt, smear campaigns against Russian and Chinese vaccine candidates in a concerted attempt to shut them out of other markets. Many doubts were cast on the speed of development, quality of clinical trials and effectiveness of the candidates from both nations, especially against Sputnik V from Gamaleya Laboratories.

A nurse prepares a Sputnik V injection at a Moscow clinic. Photo: AFP

After Russia’s leading vaccine was certified by its authorities and sparked interest in several nations, the United States and the European Union have been tripping it up all over the place. The 2020 Annual Report of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently revealed that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently revealed that the Office of Global Affairs (OGA) used the Office of the Health Attaché in Brazil to persuade the government of that South American country to “reject the Russian COVID-19 vaccine”.

Text subtitled as Combating malign influences in the Americas. Photo Screenshot of HSS annual report

In response to the revelation, Russian presidential spokesman Dimity Peskov stated: “In many countries, the scale of pressure is unprecedented (…) such selfish attempts to force countries to abandon some vaccines lack perspective. We believe that there should be as many doses of vaccines as possible so that all countries, including the poorest, have a chance to stop the pandemic.”

The European Union, for its part, has not yet given the green light to the Russian vaccine for use in its member countries, even though that region has lagged behind the US, Canada, the UK and Israel in vaccine availability, and even though the prestigious health journal The Lancet acknowledged the high efficacy of Sputnik V in a publication.

Beyond such barriers, Russian and Chinese vaccines have been gaining ground in different regions, due to their effectiveness and the global shortage of immunizers. Slovakia even left the European Union fold to acquire 2 million doses of Sputnik V and Hungary, which has also approved the use of the Russian vaccine, acquired doses of the Chinese Sinopharm, which has also not received the green light from the European Medicines Agency.

Health workers in Indonesia unload a shipment of Chinese vaccine Sinovac

Blackmail without anesthesia

The States made the major investment, but BigPharma imposes the conditions and keeps the revenues. The monopoly of a few multinationals in the procurement and production of anti-COVID-19 vaccines gives such companies overwhelming power.

Recent reports show how pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has attempted to impose onerous conditions on Latin American nations to supply them with certain quantities of its injectable.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro showed his displeasure these days at Pfizer’s demands on his government, pointing out that among the conditions set by the consortium is a clause in the purchase contract that exempts it from “all liability” for possible side effects of its immunizer.

“We have been very hard and they have been very hard on us. They won’t change a comma. The government is dealing with this together with Congress and it is being discussed in terms of a relaxation of the law”, said the recently dismissed Brazilian Minister of Health, Army General Eduardo Pazuello.

Argentina, Peru and the Dominican Republic also suffered intense pressure from Pfizer, as shown in an investigation by The Bureau Investigative Journalism.

Pfizer representatives in Buenos Aires demanded indemnification against any civil claims citizens might file if they experienced adverse effects after being vaccinated. “We offered to pay for millions of doses upfront, we accepted this international insurance, but the last request was extraordinary: Pfizer demanded that Argentina’s sovereign assets also be part of the legal backing,” an Argentine official confessed. “It was an extreme demand that I had only heard when the foreign debt had to be negotiated, but in that case as in this one, we rejected it immediately.”

The Argentine government believes that Pfizer’s demands were part of a commercial strategy that favored sales to developed countries and not to Latin American countries.

There are several voices that warn that the urgency to have vaccines available for a disease that has left so many dead in the world may have led some governments to accept significant limitations on their responsibilities and demand transparency on the agreements with pharmaceutical companies.

Professor Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for National and Global Health Law said, “Pharmaceutical companies should not use their power to limit life-saving vaccines in low- and middle-income countries” and noted that liability protection should not be used as “the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of desperate countries with desperate populations”.

Even mighty Europe seems to have felt the pressures. Although EU agreements with vaccine manufacturers are kept with their main clauses secret, the Vaccine Procurement Strategy made public by the European Commission states that “the responsibility for the development and use of the vaccine, including any specific compensation required, will lie with the procuring Member States.”

Excerpt from the contract for the purchase of vaccines from CureVac by the European Commission was disclosed with all essential parts blacked out.
Who will be able to be vaccinated in 2021?

Vaccine production capacities in the world are insufficient to have the necessary doses this year to immunize the world’s population. The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) says that the estimated global demand for vaccines in 2021 is between 10 and 14 billion doses.

According to statistics cited by data firm Statista, the United States can produce nearly 4.7 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine and India more than 3 billion potential doses. China, previously not a major player in the vaccine export market, has committed to manufacturing more than 1 billion doses.

Great Britain, Russia, Germany and South Korea are also among the established manufacturing centers, but with lower production capacity.

Vacuna Johnson & Johnson. Photo: Reuters.

Given this reality, the inequity and injustice of today’s world are once again evident: the richest countries have purchased most of the vaccines that will be produced in 2021 (even for stockpiling), while poor nations will not have doses to administer even to their most vulnerable segments of the population. More than 100 nations are waiting for the first bulb to arrive.

It is estimated that 90% of the inhabitants of the nearly 70 lowest-income countries will not have the opportunity to be vaccinated against COVID-19 this year.

The most powerful nations took advantage of their purchasing power and investments in vaccine development to secure supplies of the coveted antidote.

So far, about 12.7 billion doses of various coronavirus vaccines have been pre-purchased, enough to vaccinate approximately 6.6 billion people (except for Johnson & Johnson’s, all vaccines approved so far require two doses).

More than half of those doses, 4.2 billion insured, with the option to buy another 2.5 billion, have been purchased by wealthy countries that are home to only 1.2 billion people.

Canada has bought enough doses to inoculate every Canadian five times, while the U.S., U.K., EU, EU, Australia, New Zealand and Chile have bought enough to vaccinate their citizens at least twice, although some of the vaccines have not yet been approved.

Israel struck a deal for 10 million doses and a promise of a steady supply from Pfizer in exchange for data on vaccine recipients. According to reports, the country also paid $30 per dose, double the price paid by the EU.

As Irene Bernal, a researcher on access to medicines at the NGO Salud por Derecho, told the newspaper El País last December, “we are seeing that whoever has the money is the one who has the access. We have kept 53% of the vaccines for 14% of the population, the rich. And the companies have a limited production capacity, so when are the doses going to reach the poorest countries?”

Low- and middle-income countries, with 84% of the world’s population, have made deals directly with pharmaceutical companies, but have so far secured only 32% of the supply.

“We are in such a massive crisis,” said Fatima Hassan, founder of the South African Health Justice Initiative. “If even in South Africa we can’t vaccinate half our population soon, I can’t even imagine how Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Namibia and the rest of Africa will cope. If this is going to go on for another three years, we won’t get any kind of continental or global immunity.”

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard have asked the U.S. authorities to allow them to acquire part of the tens of millions of AstraZeneca vaccines produced in the United States, which Washington has stockpiled without having approved the use of this drug. Other countries that have already authorized this vaccine are begging to have them.

Mexico, one of the countries with the largest presence of COVID-19, has so far administered some 4.4 million doses using Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Sputnik V vaccines, in a population of more than 128 million inhabitants, which means a low vaccination rate, according to the website www.ourworldindata.org managed by the University of Oxford.

The most current statistics from this observatory show the low proportion and unequal distribution of the number of fully vaccinated people (with all the necessary doses) in the world:

Percentage of population fully vaccinated with required doses by country, March 16, 2021. Graphic: OurWorldinData /Oxford University

According to data collected by Bloomberg, as of Thursday, more than 410 million doses of anti-COVID vaccines have been administered worldwide in some 132 countries. This represents just 2.7% of the world’s population.

The first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Tuesday afternoon received the former President of Brazil, compañero Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is visiting our country

In a fraternal environment, Cuba’s highest leadership and the President in Honor of the Brazilian Workers Party discussed the historic relations of sisterhood shared by the two peoples and parties

Lula thanked the Cuban people for their expressions of solidarity, demanding his freedom when he was unjustly imprisoned, and condemned the tightening of the U.S. blockade of our country, as well as the Donald Trump administration’s addition of Cuba to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. He likewise reaffirmed his appreciation of the humanitarian work done by Cuban doctors in Brazil and praised current aid our professionals are offering in other nations around the world.

Also present during the meeting were Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla. Also attending was Brazilian journalist, political activist and writer Fernando Gomes de Morais.

(Taken from Granma)

Recalling the frightened face of my mother, in the summer of 1981, living in fear that one of her sons would be added to the list of children who died from hemorrhagic dengue, the most lethal epidemic Cuba had seen since the triumph of the Revolution, with no knowledge of where it came from – later to be well understood – or how to treat it, I ask the U.S. government: Do you know what terrorism is?

Moved by the painful memory of Granma’s front page in January of 1992, bearing a photo of the riddled bodies of four Interior Ministry guards protecting the maritime base at Tarará, the victims of a group of brutal terrorists bent on making use of the Cuban Adjustment Act, I ask the U.S. government: Do you know what terrorism is?

Impressed by the unforgettable words of Giustino Di Celmo, who in a pained voice uttered a phrase that came from the depths of his soul, “Nothing can be painful than the death of a son and even more so when it is caused by a violent, cruel act,” confronting the terrible reality that a bomb in the Copacabana Hotel detonated by terrorists financed from the North, had taken the smile of his dear

Fabiucho, I ask the U.S. government: Do you know what terrorism is?

(Taken from Granma)

Almost all of them had applied for a visa to the United States and intended to remain on the island only until they could enter the country. But eight days before the Saint Louis set sail for Cuba from the German port of Hamburg, Cuban President Federico Laredo Bru, by a decree, invalidated the landing permits. To enter Cuba it would then be compulsory to have an authorization from the Secretary of State and another from the Secretary of Labor, plus the payment of a $500 bonus, requirements from which, of course, tourists were excluded. None of the passengers on the Saint Louis knew about the entry into force of this measure until they arrived at the port of Havana. And it was too late. They had to return to Europe. Not many of them survived to tell the story.

In short, only 28 of the 937 passengers on the Saint Louis were able to disembark in Havana on May 27, 1939, after a two-week voyage. Six of them (four Spaniards and two Cubans) were not Jewish, and among these, only 22 were able to show the new documentation required for the landing. One more passenger, a Jew, attempted suicide on board and was rushed to a Havana hospital. It was never known whether he was returned to the ship or left on land.

One day after the arrival of the Jews to the Havana port, Lawrence Berenson, lawyer of the American Jewish Committee for Joint Distribution (JDC), arrived in Havana to intercede for the passengers. He had been president of the Cuban-American Chamber of Commerce and therefore had many relations and extensive business experience in Cuba. He met with Laredo Bru and tried to convince him to authorize the landing. The President persisted in his refusal. On June 2, the President ordered the Saint Louis to leave Cuban waters, but he did not cut off the talks with Berenson, from whom he asked for $435,500 in exchange for letting the passengers disembark. The negotiator made a counteroffer; Laredo Bru rejected it and broke off contacts.

Inés and Renata look sadly through the porthole of the transatlantic, one of the most famous pictures of the trip. Photo: the Andalusian Post Office.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis slowly sailed to the United States. They sent a telegram to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt requesting refuge. Roosevelt never responded. Already the White House and the State Department had decided not to allow them entry. They had to, said American diplomatic sources, wait their turn on the waiting list and then meet the necessary requirements to obtain an emigration visa in order to be admitted to U.S. territory.

After Washington’s refusal, the Saint Louis set out for Europe. Some of the passengers were admitted to Great Britain, Holland and France. The rest disembarked in Antwerp on June 17, 1939, after spending more than a month at sea. The French, Belgian and Dutch authorities took them to internment camps, as well as to other German refugees. The British authorities interned them on the Isle of Man and in confinement camps in Canada and Australia. With the German invasion of Western Europe in May 1940, the passengers of the Saint Louis were again in danger. Some 670 of them fell into the hands of the Nazis and died in concentration camps. Another 240 survived years of hunger, abuse and forced labor.

The Saint Louis was not the only ship with Jews on board to suffer this fate in Havana harbor. The same thing happened to other ships.

On May 27, 1939, the same day as the arrival of the Saint Louis, the English ship Orduña touched down in Havana, with 120 Austrian, Czech and German Jews on board. Forty-eight of these passengers carried landing permits that had been invalidated by the national authorities. They were still able to go ashore. The remaining 72 were forced to make a long pilgrimage through South America.

Also in May 1939 the French ship Flandre arrived in Havana, with 104 Jews on board. Landing was impossible. The Flandre returned to France, where the government accepted the emigrants but placed them in an internment camp.

Another ship, the Orinoco, twin of the Saint Louis, was due to arrive in Havana in June with 200 passengers on board. But when her captain heard about what was happening in that port, he tried to get England and France to take them in. They were not accepted, and neither was the United States. U.S. diplomats then pressured the German ambassador in London to give guarantees that once the refugees returned to Germany they would not be victims of Nazi barbarism. Those 200 Jews returned to Germany in June 1939. Their fate is still unknown.

(By Ciro Bianchi Ross)

Over the course of an extensive day of work, combing practically all the principal agricultural poles of the province, Machado Ventura verified, in situ, that the current priority of the population is just that: working without rest to alleviate the situation caused by the intense rains and the delays in planting these generated.

Félix Duartes Ortega, member of Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and first secretary in the province, who accompanied the Second Secretary throughout the day, informed him that the planting of 900 hectares in Horquita was delayed, and another 300 in Juraguá, both located in the municipality of Abreus.

Considerable damage to plantain fields was recorded in Venero, in Aguada de Pasajeros; and some 400,000 seedlings were lost in Cumanayagua, Duartes explained.

We have the machinery, the fuel, seeds, and the workforce committed to the upcoming season, reported Rolando Pérez Ramos, director of this agricultural pole.

Prioritized in Horquita are the more than 350 hectares of beans needed to feed the population, Duartes noted.

A similar spirit of work was appreciated by Machado Ventura in the Juraguá Pole, speaking with fruit grower Edey Suárez Martínez, affiliated with the Arimado Citrus Enterprise. He toured fields here, damaged tobacco seedling beds (that are being re-sown with the Criollo 2010 variety) and repaired greenhouses, where 90 % of the production is destined for export to generate hard currency for the country.

(Taken from Granma)

He recalled that, immediately following the storm, a meeting of the National Defense Council’s economic-social team took place, headed by President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, during which the area of greatest concern, the state of the country’s reservoirs were evaluated and, based on the experience of Cubans in facing flooding associated with such these weather events, measures to minimize the damage were adopted.

After the storm passed by, he pointed out, the country’s highest leadership visited the most affected provinces, confirming the extent of damage and the people’s participation in recovery efforts.

He noted that some 89,000 people were evacuated, around 73,000 in the homes of relatives and friends, once again demonstrating the solidarity of Cubans, and another 16,000 in evacuation centers.

During his report, he acknowledged the tense situation of the economy, hence the importance of working efficiently to recover in the shortest time possible.

Recovery, he stressed, does not happen overnight; but the country has the basic resources essential to the task of restoring key sectors, including agriculture and water distribution-flood control infrastructure, despite the limitations.

(Taken from Granma)