Latest news with #CommunistPartyofCuba
Canada News.Net
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Canada News.Net
In the mist of the Iran crisis Cuban president calls for the elimination of all nuclear weapons
Last week, Miguel Diaz-Canel, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the country, called today for the total elimination of nuclear weapons as the only guarantee for peace. In his address to the 10th session, the head of state warned that the frenzied arms race currently underway around the world threatens to destroy the human species. Diaz-Canel stressed the need to end the nuclear arsenals of all nations, including Israel, which carried out a series of military attacks against Iran last Friday, beginning a conflict that has already lasted five days. Quoting the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, the president said: When the lives of one's species, of one's people, and of those closest to them are at such risk, no one can afford to be indifferent. According to international news agencies, the attacks on each side have killed at least 224 people in Iran and 24 in Israel last week.
Canada Standard
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Canada Standard
In the mist of the Iran crisis Cuban president calls for the elimination of all nuclear weapons
panarmenian 22 Jun 2025, 16:11 GMT+10 Last week, Miguel Diaz-Canel, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the country, called today for the total elimination of nuclear weapons as the only guarantee for peace. In his address to the 10th session, the head of state warned that the frenzied arms race currently underway around the world threatens to destroy the human species. Diaz-Canel stressed the need to end the nuclear arsenals of all nations, including Israel, which carried out a series of military attacks against Iran last Friday, beginning a conflict that has already lasted five days. Quoting the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, the president said: When the lives of one's species, of one's people, and of those closest to them are at such risk, no one can afford to be indifferent. According to international news agencies, the attacks on each side have killed at least 224 people in Iran and 24 in Israel last week. ____________________________________________________ Source: CUBANEW Source: Pressenza
NBC News
14-06-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Spanish-language misinformation on Los Angeles protests pushes a familiar theme
A surge of false or misleading posts, photographs and videos about the Los Angeles protests have been circulating on social media, with many of those shared among Latinos — mostly in Spanish — tying the protesters to socialist or communist governments. One post on X with over 600,000 views claims that in the U.S., immigration protest groups have links to 'the Venezuelan mafia,' the Communist Party of Cuba, and the Morena Party, the left-wing ruling party of Mexico. But the post doesn't specify any groups and doesn't give evidence of this. The narrative echoes similar falsehoods that circulated during the 2020 George Floyd protests and the 2024 pro-Palestinian student protests on university campuses. Parts of Los Angeles and other cities across the country have seen protests against immigration raids as President Donald Trump's administration enforces a hard-line immigration policy. Dramatic scenes where cars, including Waymo taxis, were set on fire and protesters confronted law enforcement by throwing objects at them have filled social media feeds. While some far-left groups have encouraged and even glorified violence in the protests, the onslaught of posts, mostly in Spanish, appears to be an attempt to link protests against immigrant raids to leftist Latin American governments, and the posts show support for President Donald Trump and his policies. 'Though there is always inaccurate information swirling around, there has certainly been a spike since the Los Angeles protests took off,' said Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, president of We Are Más, which focuses on social impact consulting. 'In the past we would find false or inaccurate information more hidden in platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp. Now it's more in the open and more easily found on social media and online publications.' The falsehoods revive prior conspiracies that the protests are a planned provocation from leftist governments and not a spontaneous response to the immigration raids. On his platform, Truth Social, Trump has baselessly claimed protesters are 'Paid Insurrectionists!' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have been targets of some of the misinformation that seeks to link them to communism. A fake picture of Bass with Cuba's late leader Fidel Castro, with his arm around her has circulated on social media. The original picture showed Castro with the late activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela. Bass does have some connections to Cuba; she traveled to the country with the Venceremos Brigade in the 1970s to do volunteer construction work and later went there as a member of Congress. She received criticism in 2020 for calling Castro's death ' a great loss, ' but the fake picture is a step further to link her directly with Fidel Castro. 'What we're seeing in Spanish is different from what we're seeing in English,' said Pérez-Verdía. In Spanish, she added, the false information is mainly focused on elected officials, like Newsom and Bass. 'They talk about the extreme left, communism — actors, whether domestic or foreign, are changing the messaging based on the community they are targeting,' said Pérez-Verdía. In some cases, false information has made its way to the federal government. Some conservative and pro-Russian social media accounts have circulated a video of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum from before the protests, claiming she encouraged them, according to Newsguard, a fact-checking website. The move was 'portrayed as foreign interference in domestic U.S. politics,' Newsguard reported. During an oval office briefing Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Sheinbaum of encouraging 'violent protests.' Sheinbaum responded on X, saying it's 'absolutely false' and included a video of herself from the day before saying she does not agree with violent actions as a form of protest. She also accused the opposition party of falsely saying she incited the protests. In some cases, videos and photos that include a hammer and sickle, are taken out of context to make it seem the protests are a communist movement. One post with tens of thousands of views claims that the protests are 'URBAN COMMUNIST TERRORISM.' One Spanish-language post from an account with over 1 million followers glorifies violence against 'progressive anti-ICE protestors.' Situations like these create fertile ground for disinformation to spread. Fake accounts in Spanish are more prevalent than they are in English, according to Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University and co-director of its Media Forensic Hub. Social media platforms are more likely to identify and shut down accounts in English than in other languages. Linvill said that another reason accounts in Spanish are more common than in English is that the use of marketing companies utilizing fake accounts — on behalf of political organizations or politicians — has spiked in the last few years. The spread of false information 'is absolutely having an effect on driving partisanship, conspiratorial thinking, distrust for expertise and the lack of a sort of shared reality,' said Linvill. 'A shared reality is important for us to build compromise and govern nations together. And I think it is absolutely having an effect on that.' 'The degree to which motivated actors [bad actors], are responsible, versus the fundamental nature of social media to create a giant game of telephone that virtually generates the spread of false information, it's hard to say,' Linvill said.
eNCA
25-04-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Catholics in secular Cuba hail Francis as 'bridge'
Catholics and others in secular Cuba have been paying tribute to Pope Francis, praising in particular his efforts to reconcile the communist island with its powerful neighbor, the United States. The country, which was officially atheist for three decades, declared three days of mourning for the pontiff, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel attended a special mass at Havana's cathedral Thursday. Ex-president Raul Castro -- brother of revolutionary leader Fidel, who had initially cracked down on religion -- sent a message of condolences calling Francis a "man of integrity." The Catholic Church's first Latin American pope played a special role in Cuban history, negotiating a resumption of diplomatic relations with Washington under president Barack Obama in 2015, after decades of Cold War estrangement. He became the third pope to visit the island, once in both 2015 and 2016. The Communist Party of Cuba declared the state secular, no longer atheist, in 1992, allowing for greater religious freedom. Havana's cathedral, which normally draws only a trickle of worshippers, was packed Thursday to bid a final farewell to Francis. The pontiff, who died Monday aged 88, "fostered dialogue, especially between Cuba and the United States, which was very difficult," said 75-year-old Osvaldo Ferreira, a cathedral custodian. The pope, added 24-year-old doctor Rayneris Lopez, was "like a bridge" between Cuba and the United States. - Pope 'loved this country' - The detente that Francis helped foster has suffered setbacks since Obama left office in 2017. Obama's successor Donald Trump severed ties with Havana during his first term, and toughened sanctions now in place for over 60 years. In 2022, the administration of Joe Biden added Cuba to a religious freedom blacklist, pointing to arrests of religious figures over their purported role in rare public protests, as well as restrictions on certain churches. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez at the time rejected the accusation saying: "It is known that in Cuba there is religious freedom." In one of his final official acts, Biden on January 14 removed Cuba from a US list of state terror sponsors in return for the communist island agreeing to free 553 prisoners in a deal also mediated by the Vatican. But six days later marked the swearing-in of Trump for a second term. He swiftly overturned the deal. Havana claims it has released all 553 people subject to the deal with Biden, including 231 considered "political prisoners" by rights groups. Most of the 231 had been rounded up in a crackdown on mass protests against the Cuban government in July 2021. During his homily on Thursday, the Holy See's envoy to Cuba Antoine Camilleri recalled the late pontiff had "loved this country, the Cuban church, and the Cuban people very much."
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Catholics in secular Cuba hail Francis as 'bridge'
Catholics and others in secular Cuba have been paying tribute to Pope Francis, praising in particular his efforts to reconcile the communist island with its powerful neighbor, the United States. The country, which was officially atheist for three decades, declared three days of mourning for the pontiff, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel attended a special mass at Havana's cathedral Thursday. Ex-president Raul Castro -- brother of revolutionary leader Fidel, who had initially cracked down on religion -- sent a message of condolences calling Francis a "man of integrity." The Catholic Church's first Latin American pope played a special role in Cuban history, negotiating a resumption of diplomatic relations with Washington under president Barack Obama in 2015, after decades of Cold War estrangement. He became the third pope to visit the island, once in both 2015 and 2016. The Communist Party of Cuba declared the state secular, no longer atheist, in 1992, allowing for greater religious freedom. Havana's cathedral, which normally draws only a trickle of worshippers, was packed Thursday to bid a final farewell to Francis. The pontiff, who died Monday aged 88, "fostered dialogue, especially between Cuba and the United States, which was very difficult," said 75-year-old Osvaldo Ferreira, a cathedral custodian. The pope, added 24-year-old doctor Rayneris Lopez, was "like a bridge" between Cuba and the United States. - Pope 'loved this country' - The detente that Francis helped foster has suffered setbacks since Obama left office in 2017. Obama's successor Donald Trump severed ties with Havana during his first term, and toughened sanctions now in place for over 60 years. In 2022, the administration of Joe Biden added Cuba to a religious freedom blacklist, pointing to arrests of religious figures over their purported role in rare public protests, as well as restrictions on certain churches. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez at the time rejected the accusation saying: "It is known that in Cuba there is religious freedom." In one of his final official acts, Biden on January 14 removed Cuba from a US list of state terror sponsors in return for the communist island agreeing to free 553 prisoners in a deal also mediated by the Vatican. But six days later marked the swearing-in of Trump for a second term. He swiftly overturned the deal. Havana claims it has released all 553 people subject to the deal with Biden, including 231 considered "political prisoners" by rights groups. Most of the 231 had been rounded up in a crackdown on mass protests against the Cuban government in July 2021. During his homily on Thursday, the Holy See's envoy to Cuba Antoine Camilleri recalled the late pontiff had "loved this country, the Cuban church, and the Cuban people very much." "They are a people with wounds, like all people, but who know how to hold their arms open, to walk with hope, because their vocation is greatness," Camilleri said Francis told him in a meeting in February. lp-tjx/mlr/des
