Cuba’s evangelical alliance leads crusade against gay marriage

Conservative Christianity becomes a political force in referendum on state’s new constitution

A thousand parishioners gathered in the Methodist church in the Vedado district of Cuba’s capital on a recent Sunday morning. After the revival music and conga drums had faded, the dancers had come off stage and the faithful had lowered outstretched arms, Pastor Lester Fernández rounded off his sermon on the ruinous consequences that the legalisation of gay marriage would bring.

“The Cuban church, as an essential part of society, is worried, and therefore has a right to a public voice,” he hollered into his microphone. “Amen,” replied the flock.

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Canada cuts staff in Cuba embassy after mystery illness strikes again

Latest case comes after dozens of American embassy workers in Havana were affected, some suffering mild brain injury

Canada has announced it is removing up to half of the Canadians at its embassy in Cuba after another diplomat was found to have fallen mysteriously ill.

Canada has confirmed 14 cases of mysterious health problems since early 2017. Twenty-six American embassy workers in Cuba have also been affected, suffering a range of symptoms and diagnoses including mild traumatic brain injury, also known as concussion.

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Trump steps up Maduro pressure with sanctions against Venezuelan oil giant

  • Sanctions on $7bn in assets intended to boost Guaidó
  • John Bolton keen to counter ‘penetration’ from Cuba and Iran

The Trump administration has tightened the screws on Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro, announcing sanctions against the country’s state-owned oil giant PDVSA in what the US national security adviser admitted was partly an attempt to counter strategic threats from Cuba and Iran.

Related: Juan Guaidó: Venezuela has chance to leave chaos behind

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Guantánamo Bay branded a ‘stain on US human rights record’

Amnesty International calls US naval prison a symbol of Islamophobia and xenophobia

Guantánamo Bay remains a “stain on the human rights record” of the US and the scene of ongoing human rights violations, said Amnesty International in advance of a rally in Washington to mark the 17th anniversary of its opening.

The US naval prison at Guantánamo in Cuba – opened on 11 January 2002 – still holds 40 Muslim men, many of whom have been tortured. Many of the detainees have been cleared for transfer for years.

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‘Sonic attack’ on US embassy in Havana could have been crickets, say scientists

Noise which saw diplomats complaining of headaches and nausea could be song of Indies short-tailed cricket

The US embassy in Havana more than halved its staff in 2017 when diplomats complained of headaches, nausea and other ailments after hearing penetrating noises in their homes and nearby hotels.

The mysterious wave of illness fuelled speculation that the staff had been targeted by an acoustic weapon. It was an explanation that appeared to gain weight when an audio recording of a persistent, high-pitched drone made by US personnel in Cuba was released to the Associated Press.

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Cuban dissidents: Castro dictatorship’s new constitution a ‘fraud’

A group of Cuban activists presented in Miami a code of rights and liberties to "educate" Cubans on the island, who will vote on a new Constitution proposal. Nora GA mez Torres el Nuevo Herald The accolades for the Castro dictatorship's proposed new communist constitution in Cuba from news media and "Cuba Experts" continue coming in.

Ap Photos: Editor selections from Latin America, Caribbean

In this Friday, 20, 2018 photo, Adalicia Montecinos holds her 1-year-old son Johan, who became a poster child for the U.S. policy of separating immigrants and their children, the day there were reunited, at a restaurant in Yojoa, Honduras. Captured by Border Patrol agents in March, Johan's father was deported and the then 10-month-old remained at an Arizona shelter.

Dengue fever rampant in Cuba, four dead thus far, many ill

Ironically, the only real success of the Castro regime does involve its "free" health care, but it's not the health care itself that's a resounding success, it's the propaganda and fake news generated about it by the Castro Ministry of Truth. The real truth - as opposed to the lies and exaggerations spewed by the Ministry of Truth and endlessly echoed by the world's so-called "journalists"- is that health care in Castrogonia is awful, and this includes the prevention as well as the cure of tropical diseases.

Reports from Cuba: Activist Iliana Hernandez detained 24 hours for…

The activist Iliana Hernandez, director of the independent television program Lente Cubano , was released Monday after being arrested at noon on May 20 outside her home in Cojimar, east of Havana, the dissident told 14ymedio . "I wrote a message on Facebook calling to celebrate the date on which the Republic of Cuba was founded," explains Hernandez, and State Security "thought I was going to organize something for that day."

Fidel Castro in his own words: The Cuban revolution will not renounce terrorism

Beginning in the late fifties, Fidel Castro ordered the burning of Cuban sugar mills, warehouses, buses, factories. He also order bombings in stores, theaters, nightclubs, clinics throughout the island as part of the revolutionary campaign against the Batista dictatorship.

Reports from Cuba: Cuban festival in Washington: One more victory for Castroism

Omara Portuondo, Ballet Nacional, Pablo MilanA s, HaydA e MilanA s, Los Van Van , Teatro El PAoblico , Aldo LA3pez GavilA n, Jorge Luis Pacheco, Orquesta FaA lde , T eatro El PAoblico , Orquesta del Liceo de La Habana a The top drawer talent went to Cuba, to the Kennedy Center, to the Artes de Cuba festival. The best and most reliable, the ones who can be trusted to not defect or say something inappropriate-because it would not be to their advantage to do so.

Guest Blog: CFI’s Remorse

Fourteen aviation organizations including AOPA, EAA and GAMA are asking the FAA to reconsider its position on not allowing pilots access... U.S. Customs and Border Protection is testing out a program that will allow seaplane pilots to clear customs via its Reporting... The face of aviation training is changing and one of the places where the effects can be seen is in how many and what kinds of new... One-G's Access program gives those who want or need a sophisticated flight simulator access to one without an upfront capital outlay. Yes, there's a shortage of pilots, but also of instructors to teach new ones.

Plane crashes in Cuba killing more than 100, investigation underway

Firefighters work at the wreckage site of a Boeing 737 plane that crashed in the agricultural area of Boyeros, around 20 km south of Havana, shortly after taking off from Havana's main airport in Cuba, on May 18, 2018. - Reuters Firefighters work at the wreckage site of a Boeing 737 plane that crashed in the agricultural area of Boyeros, around 20 km south of Havana, shortly after taking off from Havana's main airport in Cuba, on May 18, 2018.

Cuba’s leader pledges ‘continuity’

In his first hour as Cuba's new head of state, Miguel Diaz-Canel made clear that while Raul Castro is no longer president, the longtime Communist leader is still the power to be reckoned with in this island nation. "Raul ... will be key to the process of making the most important decisions on the future of the nation," Diaz-Canel, 57, said Thursday on the floor of Cuba's National Assembly after he was formally named the country's new head of state.

Raul Castro retires as Cuban president

Raul Castro turned over Cuba's presidency Thursday to a 57-year-old successor he said would hold power until 2031, a plan that would place the state the Castro brothers founded and ruled for 60 years in the hands of a Communist Party official little known to most on the island. Castro's 90-minute valedictory speech offered his first clear vision for the nation's future power str... Outgoing President Raul Castro raises his arms in celebration after Miguel Diaz-Canel was elected as the island nation's new president, at the National Assembly in Havana, Cuba.

The Latest: Rubio calls pick of new Cuba leader a ‘charade’

In this Jan. 25, 2018 file photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks with reporters as he leaves the office of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is moderating bipartisan negotiations on immigration, at the Capitol in Washington. When presidents gather on April 13, in Peru at the Summit of the Americas, they may be tempted to walk past Vice President Mike Pence and make a beeline for the person who has President Donald Trump's ear on Latin America: Sen. Marco Rubio.