By Alejandra Garcia on May 21, 2024
Luis Abinader, and his wife Raquel Arbaje Soneh react after the preliminary results of the presidential election, in Santo Domingo, photo: Henry Romero, Reuters
On Sunday, presidential elections were held in the Dominican Republic, giving the victory to the incumbent president, Luis Abinader, who is heading for a second term full of challenges. Social debts and marked inequalities persist in the country, amid a deficient health care system, along with the expansion of the informal economy, while overall poverty stands at 23.0 % and extreme poverty at 3.2 %. (more…)
By Alejandra Garcia on May 19, 2024
Migrants continue their journey north in hopes of reaching the U.S. border, in Tapachula, Chiapas on the Guatemalan border, photo: AP
The common border between Mexico and Guatemala, with the Suchiate River as its natural boundary, is facing record migration flows, with an increase of almost 200 percent in irregular migrants intercepted in the first quarter of this year in the Aztec country. (more…)
By Alejandra Garcia on May 14, 2024 from Havana
US – Cuba agricultural conference, photo: Abel Padrón Padilla
This Monday, business people and politicians from the United States and Cuba began a new round of talks to identify potential agricultural businesses that contribute to food supply and nutritional security on both sides of the Straits of Florida. The U.S. blockade against Cuba hits every sector of the country’s economy hard, but most especially the agricultural sector. (more…)
By Alejandra Garcia on May 7, 2024 from Havana
Milei and his campaign to stamp out the truth.
Last Sunday, the Argentine government of Javier Milei decided to eliminate the teleSUR communication signal from the media grid, offered through Digital Terrestrial Television,. The move by the right wing neo liberal president clearly represents a serious attack on the freedom of the press and the right to information. (more…)
By Alejandra Garcia and Bill Hackwell on May 1, 2024, in Havana
photo: Bill Hackwell
This May Day, Cuba did not hold its traditional parade in the capital’s Revolution Square for the second consecutive year. The lack of fuel made it impossible to provide the necessary transportation for thousands of Cubans in the surrounding neighborhoods and provinces to travel to the iconic Paseo Avenue in Havana. This event every year attracted all generations of Cubans parading with Cuban flags in hand, and with the typical excitement and pride that characterizes us. (more…)
By Alejandra Garcia on April 23, 2024
The Quinta de los Molinos Garden is a naturalistic oasis in the heart of Salvador Allende Avenue in Havana, Cuba. The front door leads to another dimension and leaves behind that street through which the noisiest cars in the capital pass. The noise, the asphalt, and the strong smells disappear and a place full of trees, birdsong, flowers, and butterflies opens up. Butterflies, in a city where you can walk from one end to the other without seeing a single one of these winged beauties. (more…)
By Alejandra Garcia on April 21, 2024 from Havana
photo: Bill Hackwell
April 19, 1961, is marked in the Cuban popular imagination as a day of national pride. Barely 72 hours after the landing of 1500 U.S.-backed mercenaries at Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs), in Matanzas, Cuba demonstrated to the world its willingness and determination to defend with arms the revolutionary process initiated on January 1, 1959. Witnesses of that three-day battle remember the complexity of the combat. Although Cuba was expecting the attack, it was surreal that it was really happening. (more…)
By Alejandra Garcia on April 16, 2024 from Havana
Corner of 23rd and 12th in the Vedado district of the capital. photo: Bill Hackwell
Every April 16, Cuba celebrates three glorious anniversaries. First, the declaration of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution. Second, the Day of the Militiaman. And the third, the founding of the Cuban Communist Party. These three events are nourished by a single root: patriotism, unity, and the people’s willingness to defend the Revolution at any cost. (more…)