Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés dies at 79
“The culture in Cuba is in mourning for the death of Pablo Milanes,” Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz tweeted Monday night. Milanés and Rodríguez in particular became close, touring the world’s stages as cultural ambassadors for the Cuban Revolution, and bonding during boozy sessions. “If Silvio Rodríguez and I got together, the rum was always there,” Milanés told El Pais in 2003. Cuba’s aging leaders “are stuck in time,” Milanés told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “These freedoms have been seen in small doses, and we hope that with time they will grow,” Milanés told The Associated Press.
wftv.comCuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanes dies at 79
“The culture in Cuba is in mourning for the death of Pablo Milanes,” Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz tweeted Monday night. Milanes and Rodriguez in particular became close, touring the world’s stages as cultural ambassadors for the Cuban Revolution, and bonding during boozy sessions. “If Silvio Rodriguez and I got together, the rum was always there,” Milanes told El Pais in 2003. Cuba’s aging leaders “are stuck in time,” Milanes told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “These freedoms have been seen in small doses, and we hope that with time they will grow,” Milanes told The Associated Press.
wftv.comCuba holds unusual vote on law allowing same-sex marriage
HAVANA — (AP) — Cuba held a rare referendum Sunday on an unusually contentious law — a government-backed “family law” code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt, as well as outlining the rights of children and grandparents. Cuba holds parliamentary elections every two years, though no party other than the Communist is allowed, but seldom has it held referendums on specific laws. President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has promoted the law acknowledged resistance as he voted on Sunday. But there’s a strong strain of social conservatism in Cuba, where evangelical churches have been growing. Several religious leaders have expressed concern or opposition to the law., worrying it could weaken nuclear families.
wftv.comCuba holds unusual vote on law allowing same-sex marriage
HAVANA — (AP) — Cuba held a rare referendum Sunday on an unusually contentious law — a government-backed “family law” code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt, as well as outlining the rights of children and grandparents. Cuba holds parliamentary elections every two years, though no party other than the Communist is allowed, but seldom has it held referendums on specific laws. President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has promoted the law acknowledged resistance as he voted on Sunday. But there’s a strong strain of social conservatism in Cuba, where evangelical churches have been growing. Several religious leaders have expressed concern or opposition to the law., worrying it could weaken nuclear families.
wftv.comFriends and family mourn U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole Gee killed in Afghanistan
Officials identified 13 U.S. service members who were killed in an ISIS-K attack outside of Kabul's airport on Friday. Among them was 23-year-old Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole L. Gee who just days before her death was one of several Marines seen cradling and comforting Afghan children prior to their evacuation from the country. CBS Sacramento's Velena Jones reports.
news.yahoo.comJudge rules ex-Castro prisoner Ana Rodriguez can be evicted from her Miami home
Ana Rodriguez, an 83-year-old who spent 19 years as a political prisoner in Castro’s Cuba and faces losing her Miami home, suffered a setback in court on Tuesday when a judge ruled that her eviction after a bank’s foreclosure is legal.
news.yahoo.comRudy Giuliani came to Miami to hammer Cuba’s regime. Just a few people showed up
As thousands of Cuban Americans marched in Washington Monday to call for the U.S. to put more pressure on Cuba’s government, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani came to Miami to denounce Cuba’s communist regime. He spoke to a small group of people outside of Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana.
news.yahoo.comDecades ago, Fidel Castro promised all a better way of life: He lied to Cubans like my parents | Opinion
In January 1959, Fidel Castro spoke in Havana and said: “We have a free country. We do not have censorship and the people can meet freely. We will never use force and the day the people do not want me, I will leave.”
news.yahoo.comDecades ago, Fidel Castro promised all a better way of life: He lied to Cubans like my parents | Opinion
In January 1959, Fidel Castro spoke in Havana and said: “We have a free country. We do not have censorship and the people can meet freely. We will never use force and the day the people do not want me, I will leave.”
news.yahoo.comCuba’s leader lays some blame for protests on his government
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has acknowledged shortcomings in his government’s handling of shortages and of neglecting certain sectors, but he is urging Cubans to not act with hate — a reference to violence during recent street protests.
Cuba's leader lays some blame for protests on his government
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel for the first time is offering some self-criticism while saying that government shortcomings in handling shortages and other problems played a role in this week's protests. Until now, the Cuban government had only blamed social media and the U.S. government for the weekend protests, which were the biggest seen in Cuba since a quarter century ago, when then-President Fidel Castro personally went into the streets to calm crowds of thousands furious over dire shortages following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic subsidies for the island.
news.yahoo.comCuba's president says government has some blame for protests
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Wednesday acknowledged shortcomings in his government's handling of shortages and of neglecting certain sectors, but he urged Cubans to not act with hate — a reference to violence during recent street protests. Until now, the Cuban government had only blamed social media and the U.S. government for the weekend protests, which were the biggest seen in Cuba since a quarter century ago, when then-President Fidel Castro personally went into the streets to calm crowds of thousands furious over dire shortages following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic subsidies for the island. In a nighttime address on state television, Díaz-Canel for the first time was self critical and acknowledged that failings by the state played a role in the protests over food shortages, rising prices and other grievances.
news.yahoo.com‘Prayer is our only armor’: Cuba protests calling on U.S. intervention continue in Miami
Protests calling on the U.S. to provide humanitarian help and military intervention in Cuba amid political unrest continued in Miami on Tuesday, this time under rainy skies at the Tamiami Fairgrounds in West Miami-Dade.
news.yahoo.com'Disappointed in Kavanaugh': New books on Trump give behind-the-scenes looks at presidency
A flurry of new books on former President Donald Trump are hitting bookshelves this month. The new books — by author Michael Wolff, Wall Street Journal reporter Michael C. Bender and Washington Post reporters Carol D. Leonnig and Philip Rucker, respectively — outline Trump’s final days in office.
news.yahoo.comCuba rolls out mass vaccines while awaiting study results
Cuba began immunizing people this week with its own vaccines, Abdala and Soberana 02, the only ones developed by a Latin American country. While other Latin American nations are producing foreign vaccines under license, only Cuba so far has developed its own. She said it will take little more than a month to vaccinate 20,490 of the 32,000 people served by her neighborhood clinic. Portal said the government plans to start mass vaccines with some 700,000 people in seven Havana districts hardest hit by COVID-19 such as Habana del Este. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, Cuba has reported 121,838 cases and 785 deaths.
wftv.comLatinos face barriers like fear, language in getting vaccine
Dr. Ingrid Felix-Peralta, second from left, and her husband Dr. Victor Peralta, second from right, administer second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in New York, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. From elderly Cuban Americans in Florida to farmworkers in California, Latinos face daunting barriers like fear, language and a lack of education and access as the COVID-19 vaccines roll out, creating risks for public health as the virus mutates and spreads. From elderly Cuban Americans in Florida to farmworkers in California, Latinos face daunting barriers to getting COVID-19 vaccines, creating risks for public health as the coronavirus mutates and spreads. The poll says Latinos' willingness to get the vaccine is similar to the American public overall. “As efforts to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine continue, trust and acceptance of Hispanics will be crucial," León said.
Leftist leads in early returns for Ecuador presidential vote
(AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)QUITO – A young leftist backed by a convicted-but-popular former president led the field of 16 candidates in early returns from Ecuador’s presidential election Sunday, which was held under strict sanitary measures due to the coronavirus pandemic. Arauz got 31.5% of the votes, while Pérez had 20.04% and Lasso had 19.97%, according to the Electoral Council of Ecuador. To win outright, a candidate needed 50% of the vote, or to have at least 40% with a 10-point lead over the closest opponent. Pérez's challenge to grab second place surprised some observers as he had trailed behind Arauz and Lasso in pre-election polls. That conviction barred him from running as Arauz's vice presidential candidate.
Trump hits Cuba with new terrorism sanctions in waning days
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Monday re-designated Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” hitting the country with new sanctions that could hamstring President-elect Joe Biden's promise to renew relations with the communist-governed island. The designation, which had been discussed for years, is one of several last-minute foreign policy moves that the Trump administration is making before Biden takes office Jan. 20. Since Trump took office, after a campaign that attacked Obama's moves to normalize relations with Cuba, ties have been increasingly strained. The latest sanctions put Cuba alongside North Korea, Syria and Iran as the only foreign nations deemed state sponsors of terrorism. Obama’s removal of Cuba from the “state sponsors of terrorism” list had been a major target of Trump, Pompeo and other Cuba hawks in the current administration.
Florida’s 2020 dominated by virus, economy and election
[TRENDING: $600 direct payments could be coming soon | Cookies made from python eggs | Motive sought in Nashville bombing]The virus cratered the state's economy. Of course, the virus wasn't the only major Florida story in 2020. November's election had only minor problems even with the pandemic, perhaps burying the state's reputation for voting ineptitude forever. But on April 1, with 130 Floridians dead and 10,000 confirmed cases, DeSantis issued a 30-day stay-at-home order with exceptions for essential workers and such activities as grocery shopping. With cases declining, DeSantis loosened restrictions in early May except for hard-hit Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Biden aims to expand map as Trump recovers from coronavirus
MIAMI – As President Donald Trump recovers from the coronavirus, Joe Biden is capitalizing on having the campaign trail largely to himself by hitting critical swing states and investing in longtime Republican bastions that he hopes might expand his path to victory. Even Biden’s former primary rival, Bernie Sanders, has resumed in-person campaigning for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak in March. “They are running a solid race focused on the swing states we need to win but now have excess resources to expand the map." “The Trump campaign continues to run their presidential campaign, and we are going to continue to run our presidential campaign," said Biden campaign senior strategist Anita Dunn. Biden shared a stage with the president for 90 minutes during last week’s first presidential primary debate.
Biden aims to expand map as Trump recovers from coronavirus
MIAMI – As President Donald Trump recovers from the coronavirus, Joe Biden is capitalizing on having the campaign trail largely to himself by hitting critical swing states and investing in longtime Republican bastions that he hopes might expand his path to victory. Even Biden’s former primary rival, Bernie Sanders, has resumed in-person campaigning for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak in March. “They are running a solid race focused on the swing states we need to win but now have excess resources to expand the map." “The Trump campaign continues to run their presidential campaign, and we are going to continue to run our presidential campaign," said Biden campaign senior strategist Anita Dunn. Biden shared a stage with the president for 90 minutes during last week’s first presidential primary debate.
History on screen: East Germany through its filmmakers' eyes
In this Wednesday, June 17, 2020 photo Gunnar Dedio, German film producer and managing director of PROGRESS Film GmbH poses for a photo between rolls of film in the archive of PROGRESS Film, in Leipzig, Germany. A new project is underway to digitize thousands of East German newsreels, documentaries and feature films 30 years after Germanys reunification. The East German Augenzeuge, or Eyewitness, newsreel on the Kennedy visit trumpeted the prank as a triumph, scoffing that the American president got an “unexpected surprise instead of the great view into the East German capital promised by his Secret Service” and allegedly had to cut his visit from “20 minutes to five." Germany was divided into four occupation zones after World War II, the Soviet-influenced East Germany and West Germany's American, British and French sectors. In 1950, the year after East Germany was established as a country, the authorities formed another company, Progress, as a state monopoly to distribute DEFA films and to import foreign productions.
Trump tightens Cuba sanctions as he woos Cuban-American vote
The action came as Trump is seeking to boost his appeal among Cuban Americans, a crucial Republican-leaning voting bloc in the all-important state of Florida. Trump said the new Treasury Department sanctions will ensure that U.S. dollars do not fund the Cuban government. He said U.S. sanctions will remain until Cuba releases all political prisoners, rights to free assembly and expression are respected, political parties are legalized and free elections are scheduled. Americans are allowed to visit Cuba to see family, for humanitarian visits and for several other reasons expressly outlined by the U.S. government. “This is a desperate and hypocritical attempt by Trump to pander to Cuban-American voters in Florida," Democratic Party spokesperson Enrique Gutierrez said in an email.
Rolling Stones' Cuba concert makes history
Rock music was forbidden in Cuba when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. Last night, after more than half a century, rock fans there got satisfaction as hundreds of thousands went to a free Rolling Stones concert in Havana. Chris Martinez reports.
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