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☆ Cuba Charges 30 Over Massive Chicken Heist
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has charged 30 people for stealing 133 tonnes of chicken and selling them on the street in a rare major heist at a time of food shortages in the communist-run nation. The chicken had been earmarked for Cuba`s "rationbook" system introduced after the late Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution to provide subsidized staples for all. Rigoberto Mustelier, director of government food distributor COPMAR, said the quantity stolen was the equivalent of a month`s ration of chicken for a medium-sized province at current distribution rates. The amount of chicken available via the rationbook has fallen sharply in recent years as economic crisis has brought scarcities of food, fuel and medicines. Authorities did not say when the chicken theft took place, but noted it likely occurred between midnight and 2 a.m., when they detected fluctuations in the temperature of the cold storage facility.

Persons: Fidel Castro's, Rigoberto Mustelier, Dave Sherwood, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: TV, Authorities Locations: HAVANA, Cuba, Havana, Cuban

☆ Why Cubans are fighting for Russia in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Patrick Oppmann | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Men like Miguel, who in July traveled to Russia and soon after was on the front lines of the war with Ukraine, his mother Cecilia told CNN. After her son responded to a post on Facebook looking for Cubans to work as cooks and construction workers in Russia, Cecilia said two women reached out to him via WhatsApp. But soon Miguel told his mother that he wanted to return home. Since the war began Cuban officials had increasingly echoed Russian propaganda that NATO aggression was to blame for its invasion of Ukraine. When apprised by CNN of the conflicting statements by Cuban officials, Cecilia responded with a question.

Persons: Cuba CNN —, Miguel, Cecilia, “, ” Cecilia, isn’t, ” Miguel, Mama, ’, ”, Pedro Roberto Camuza Jovas, ” Camuza, Russia Julio Garmendía Peña, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, fumed, Pedro Freyre Organizations: Cuba CNN, Russia, CNN, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, Cuban State, Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Cuban, NATO, RIA Novosti, Cuban Foreign Locations: Santa Clara, Cuba, Ukraine, Russia, WhatsApp, Varadero, Moscow, Cuban, Russian, Washington , DC, Havana, China, American

☆ Cuba issues conflicting statements on use of its citizens in Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The apparently conflicting statements follow Cuban state-run and foreign media reports suggesting that young Cuban men have enlisted in the Kremlin´s military in recent months as mercenaries and victims in alleged human trafficking schemes. Cuba´s top diplomat in Moscow, Julio Antonio Garmendia Pena, told Russia´s state-run RIA news agency hours earlier on Thursday that those arrested in Cuba, all Cuban citizens, had been engaged in illegal activities and had broken the law. Cuba did not respond to Reuters inquiry regarding the apparently contradictory statements. Cuba's foreign ministry said last week the human trafficking network that authorities were now working to "neutralise and dismantle" had operated from Russia "to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces participating in war operations in Ukraine". Cuba has denied any involvement in the war in Ukraine.

Persons: Juan Medina, Bruno Rodriguez, Rodriguez, Cuba ´, Julio Antonio Garmendia Pena, Vladimir Putin, Maxim Rodionov, Dave Sherwood, Gareth Jones, Leslie Adler Organizations: REUTERS, Cuban Foreign, Cuban, Russia, Cubans, Thomson Locations: Cuban, Cuba, Madrid, Spain, Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, Havana

The longtime political allies - both subject to U.S. sanctions - are seeking to cement economic ties by facilitating trade and investment. "(The deals) constitute a milestone in the history of our bilateral and business ties," said Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba's foreign trade minister, in a speech closing the forum on Friday. Russia also provided funds, know-how and technology to restart a steel mill in Cuba to supply construction materials on the island, according to Cuba state-run media reports. More than 150 Russian businesspeople attended the forum in Havana, according to Cuban officials. SUGAR DEALRussia this week also promised to help revive Cuba's once-vaunted sugar industry, which has nearly collapsed in recent years as its production has plunged to historic lows.

☆ Cuban police crackdown on demonstrators protesting widespread shortages
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Patrick Oppmann | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Videos posted to social media show a crowd protesting in front of government buildings, before riot police arrived and forcibly arrested several demonstrators. Netblocks, an organization that tracks internet activity, said it appeared the Cuban government had taken down the internet across the entire island as news of the protests spread. Pro-Cuban government bloggers blamed the protesters uploading videos of the protests for the internet disruptions. However, the Cuban government has a history of taking down the state-provided internet during previous protests, sometimes for several days. Internet connectivity appeared to be largely restored on Sunday, and Cuban state media Cubadebate said no more protests had occurred.

☆ Cubans, waylaid by weather and fuel shortage, march for May Day five days late
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] People gather at the seafront Malecon to watch the International Worker's Day celebration in Havana, Cuba May 5, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre MeneghiniHAVANA, May 5 (Reuters) - Cubans rallied on Havana's Malecon waterfront boulevard to celebrate International Worker's Day on Friday, five days after the planned May 1 event was called off due to foul weather and a fuel crisis that has crippled public transport on the island. "This year it was not possible, due to the fuel situation," said university professor Javier Sanchez, 24, as he cheered during the morning celebration. Though May 1 dawned clear in Havana, a wind and rain storm the previous day hindered preparations, leading Cuban officials to postpone the event until Friday. Cuban state-run media estimated that 100,000 Cubans had gathered on the Malecon by early Friday morning.

[1/5] A Cuban tanker ship enters Havana's bay with a sign that reads in Spanish: "No more blockade", referring to the trade embargo on Cuba imposed by the U.S., Havana, Cuba, April 25, 2023. Venezuela's oil exports to Cuba so far this year have dropped to 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) from almost 80,000 in 2020. Cuba has also imported since November at least five cargoes from Russia, a long-time supplier, as well as fuel from Caribbean terminals and Europe, the data shows. Officials also blame U.S. sanctions, which complicate the financing and transport of fuel to Cuba, for the crisis. Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and oil ministry, Pemex, and Mexico's foreign ministry did not reply to requests for comment.

A large fire last year destroyed a portion of the country's largest oil terminal, Matanzas, and has created obstacles to discharge fuel imports. The Panama-flagged supertanker Nolan this week is loading 400,000 barrels of fuel oil for power generation at Venezuela's Jose terminal. Seeking to avoid its own fuel crisis, Venezuela's oil supplies to Cuba last year fell about 6% to 53,600 barrels per day (bpd), independent data based on tanker movement showed. PDVSA, Venezuela's oil ministry and Cuba's Center for International Press did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The tanker has not sent a signal from its transponder since mid-December while in Venezuela, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel monitoring data.

☆ Cuba's president meets CEO of Russia's Rosneft amid fuel shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HAVANA, March 5 (Reuters) - Russian oil firm Rosneft's CEO Igor Sechin met with Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel late on Saturday, the island's leader said, amid an acute fuel shortage that has service stations temporarily shuttered and hours-long gasoline queues. Several tweets on Cuba's Presidency account emphasized the good relations between the two countries, but did not specify the reason for the visit by the state-run oil firm's boss. Cuba's former leader Raul Castro has also flown to Caracas for the occasion, Cuban state-run media said. Russia, hit by Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, is looking to strengthen political and economic ties with other countries opposed to what it calls U.S. hegemony. Cuba has been under a U.S. economic embargo since 1962 after a Communist revolution led by former leader Fidel Castro.

☆ Russian and Cuban leaders meet in Moscow, hail 'traditional friendship'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday met with his Cuban counterpart in Moscow, where the two unveiled a monument to Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and hailed the “traditional friendship” between their sanctions-hit nations. We have always supported Cuba on the international stage and we see that Cuba takes the same position towards Russia,” Putin said. Other top Russian officials struck similar tones in their meetings with Díaz-Canel, who arrived in Moscow on Saturday. Cuban state media reported that Díaz-Canel’s agenda will focus on the energy sector, very sensitive for the island as it battles shortages of food, medicines and fuel. Havana’s main regional political ally, Venezuela, has sold the island the oil Cuba needed for the past two decades.

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