Category Archives: Cuba

‘There is no money’: Cuba fears total collapse amid grid failure and financial crisis

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Repeated blackouts leave residents concerned about food, water supply and Cuba’s future

Maria Elena Cárdenas is 76 and lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street.

“You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city.

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Hurricane Oscar dumps heavy rain across Cuba amid power outageT

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Deluge causes landslides and tears house roofs as engineers try to get country’s electricity grid up and running again

Hurricane Oscar has dumped heavy rain across the eastern end of Cuba, adding to a list of woes already besetting the Caribbean’s biggest island, which was hit over the weekend by a huge power cut.

The deluge caused landslides, and winds of 75mph tore the roofs off houses, making work even more difficult for the engineers trying to get Cuba’s electricity grid up and running again, after a weekend when the entire country of about 10 million people was plunged into darkness.

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Cuba makes progress on regaining power after second total blackout

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Authorities say they are gradually re-establishing electrical service across the island, including to hospitals

Cuba’s government said on Saturday it had made some progress in gradually re-establishing electrical service across the island, including to hospitals and parts of the capital, Havana, after state-run media earlier reported the national grid had collapsed for a second time in 24 hours.

Most of Cuba’s 10 million people, however, remained without electricity on Saturday afternoon.

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Cuba in complete blackout after national electrical power grid fails

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Most businesses were closed on Friday as officials blamed deteriorating infrastructure and fuel shortages for failure

Cuba’s entire national electrical grid has shut down after one of the island’s major power plants failed, Cuba’s energy ministry said, plunging the entire country into a blackout.

Earlier on Friday, the communist-run government had closed schools and non-essential industry and sent most state workers home in a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on for residents.

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Biden declares emergency as Florida braces for Tropical Storm Helene

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Storm developing over Caribbean could become category 4 hurricane by Thursday as evacuations ordered in Florida

Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for Florida on Tuesday afternoon as the state braced for the prospect of Tropical Storm Helene swelling into a powerful hurricane heading for the state’s Gulf coast.

The US president ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local responses. The action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate hardship and suffering, the White House said.

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Outbreak of Oropouche virus in Brazil should be a ‘wake-up call’, say experts

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The disease, spread by midges and mosquitoes, has been linked to two deaths as cases surge in previously unaffected areas

The deaths of two young women, miscarriages and birth defects in Brazil have been linked to Oropouche virus, a little-known disease spread by midges and mosquitoes.

A surge in cases has been recorded in the country this year – 7,284, up from 832 in 2023. Many have been recorded in areas that have not previously seen the virus.

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North Korea diplomat flees to South in highest ranking envoy defection since 2016

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Ri Il-kyu was responsible for political affairs at Pyongyang’s embassy in Cuba, the Chosun Ilbo daily has reported

A senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defected to South Korea in November, becoming the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to escape to the South since 2016.

Without giving any further details, South Korea’s spy agency the National Intelligence Service confirmed an earlier report by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, which said that a counsellor responsible for political affairs at the North Korean embassy in Cuba had defected.

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New Cuban radar site near US military base could aid China spying – report

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CSIS calls site near Guantánamo a ‘powerful tool’ that will be able to monitor air and maritime activity of US military

Satellite images appear to show that Cuba is building a new radar site likely to be capable of spying on the US’s nearby Guantánamo Bay naval base, in the latest upgrade to the country’s surveillance capabilities long thought to be linked to China.

The base, under construction since 2021 but previously not publicly reported, is east of the city of Santiago de Cuba near the El Salao neighborhood, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report published on Monday and later referenced by the Wall Street Journal.

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Russian warships arrive in Havana in visit seen as show of strength

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Four vessels, including nuclear-powered submarine and frigate, greeted by sparse crowd upon arrival in Cuba

A fleet of Russian warships has arrived in the bay of Havana, in a visit seen as a show of strength amid tensions with the west over support for Ukraine.

Four vessels, including the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan and the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, entered Havana Bay early on Wednesday, where they offered a 21-gun salute that was reciprocated from the battlements of La Cabaña, the fortress where Che Guevara once had his office.

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Russia to send combat vessels to Caribbean to project ‘global power’, US official says

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Naval exercises spurred by US support for Ukraine are likely to include port calls in Cuba and Venezuela, says official

Russia plans to send combat vessels into the Caribbean region this summer as part of naval exercises that will probably include port calls in Cuba and possibly stops in Venezuela, a senior US official said on Wednesday.

“As part of Russia’s regular military exercises, we anticipate that this summer, Russia will conduct heightened naval and air activity near the United States. These actions will culminate in a global Russian naval exercise this fall,” the official said.

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Congress hears testimony on Russia’s sonic attacks on US officials in Havana

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Panel heard from expert witnesses how Russia had ‘means, motive and opportunity’ for covert targeting of intelligence officers

Russia has “targeted and neutralized” dozens of US intelligence agents in recent years in a covert worldwide operation using sonic weapons, a House committee heard on Wednesday as it looked into the mystery phenomenon known as Havana syndrome.

The panel heard from expert witnesses that Russia had “the motive, the means and the opportunity” to enact the attacks on US diplomats and other government employees at embassies and other government outposts that left many with debilitating or career-ending brain injuries and hearing loss.

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Ex-US ambassador sentenced to 15 years in prison for serving as secret agent for Cuba

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Manuel Rocha, 73, will also pay a $500,000 fine after pleading guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government

A former career US diplomat was sentenced Friday to 15 years in federal prison after admitting he worked for decades as a secret agent for Cuba, in a plea agreement that leaves many unanswered questions about a betrayal that stunned the US foreign service.

Manuel Rocha, 73, will also pay a $500,000 fine and cooperate with authorities after pleading guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed more than a dozen other counts, including wire fraud and making false statements.

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‘Havana syndrome’ linked to Russian unit, media investigation suggests

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US diplomats may have been targeted by Russian sonic weaponry, say the Insider, Der Spiegel and CBS’s 60 Minutes

A Russian intelligence unit is probably the origin of mysterious so-called Havana syndrome symptoms – including brain injuries and hearing loss – experienced by US diplomats in recent years, according to a joint media investigation released on Sunday.

The findings directly contradict the conclusion of US officials a year ago that “anomalous health incidents” (AHIs) among embassy staff in Cuba, China and various locations in Europe were not caused by an energy weapon or foreign adversary.

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Cuba blames US for stoking protests amid power cuts and food shortages

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US embassy says ‘absurd’ to suggest Washington behind protests in Santiago de Cuba led by parents struggling to feed their children

The Cuban government has summoned the US ambassador, Benjamin Ziff, to its foreign ministry, accusing Washington of stoking a protest which saw hundreds of people take to the streets in the island’s second city of Santiago de Cuba.

The demonstration late on Sunday was a rare public show of disenchantment against Cuba’s communist government, and was apparently led by parents struggling to feed their children in the face of a worsening food crisis. The protesters reportedly chanted: “Without electricity and food, the people get hot.”

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Medical studies find no trace of physical harm in Havana syndrome patients

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Two new studies find no significant differences between US government officials suffering from condition and control group

Two new medical studies have found that US government officials suffering from Havana syndrome symptoms did not show any discernible physical damage or alteration.

One of the studies published on Monday by the federally funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) examined brain imaging, while the other looked at blood biomarkers and clinical assessments of hearing, vision, hand-eye coordination, cognitive ability and balance.

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Former US diplomat to plead guilty to charges of spying for Cuba for decades

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Manuel Rocha was arrested for allegedly engaging in ‘clandestine activity’ on the communist country’s behalf since at least 1981

A former career US diplomat told a federal judge on Thursday he will plead guilty to charges of working for decades as a secret agent for communist Cuba, an unexpectedly swift resolution to a case prosecutors called one of the most brazen betrayals in the history of the US foreign service.

Manuel Rocha’s stunning fall from grace could culminate in a lengthy prison term after the 73-year-old said he would admit to federal counts of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government.

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Two Cuban documentaries show effects of US sanctions on island nation

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Liz Oliva Fernández says the sanctions, imposed 60 years ago and upheld through Biden, have led to a ‘desperate situation’

A Cuban journalist is looking to spread awareness of the US trade embargo in two illuminating documentaries arriving in early 2024.

Liz Oliva Fernández says whenever she covered news or events on the island, be it the push for democratic reforms, or the private businesses springing up after the Castros loosened their grip on power, they always intersected with the sanctions.

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Transatlantic slavery continued for years after 1867, historian finds

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Exclusive: Evidence found by Hannah Durkin includes ships landing in Cuba in 1872, and people held in Benin in 1873

Historians have generally assumed that the transatlantic slave trade ended in 1867, but it actually continued into the following decade, according to new research.

Dr Hannah Durkin, an historian and former Newcastle University lecturer, has unearthed evidence that two slave ships landed in Cuba in 1872. One vessel, flying the Portuguese flag, had 200 captives aged from 10 to 40, and the second is believed to have been a US ship with 630 prisoners packed into its hold.

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Juanita Castro, sister of Fidel and Raúl who worked with CIA, dies aged 90

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The staunch anti-communist, at first supportive of her brothers’ efforts, became disillusioned with the Cuban government

Juanita Castro, the sister of the Cuban rulers Fidel and Raúl Castro who worked with the CIA against their communist government, has died in Miami at 90. Florida had been her home since shortly after fleeing the island nearly 60 years ago.

The journalist María Antonieta Collins, who co-wrote Juanita Castro’s 2009 book, Fidel and Raúl, My Brothers. The Secret History, wrote on Instagram that she died on Monday.

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Former US diplomat charged with spying for Cuba over 40 years

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Attorney general alleges ‘one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations’ of US government by foreign agent

The US government charged a former diplomat who served on the national security council in the 1990s with secretly serving as an agent of Cuba’s government for more than 40 years.

Victor Manuel Rocha was arrested on Friday, following a long-running FBI counterintelligence investigation. The US ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002, Rocha also worked on the national security council from 1994 to 1995. He is charged with committing multiple federal crimes.

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