Nova Scotia Cuba Association

Washington Has No Authority to Judge Cuba, Foreign Ministry Statement

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 1 (ACN)  The Cuban Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday strongly rejecting Washington’s inclusion of the island on its black list of countries that sponsor terrorism, and stressed that the United States has no authority to judge Cuba given its long-time use of state terrorism against the island.

The Foreign Ministry’s statement explains how, once again, the government of the United States includes Cuba on its unilateral and arbitrary list. Its main objective is trying to justify the US hostile policy of blockade against the island and new measures to keep chasing financial and commercial transactions --a further effort to strangle Cuban economy to try impose a regime serving US interests.

Washington has resorted to a “new and slanderous” accusation concerning an alleged lack of actions by the Cuban banking system against money laundry and terrorism-related financial transactions, the statement reads and notes that this is but an attempt by Washington to maintain its discredited anti-Cuba policy currently in force.

The Foreign Ministry notes that the United States also tries to hide the fact that Cuba truthfully and accurately reports, on a regular basis, to the United Nations on these issues and on the struggle against terrorism.

Washington has not replied yet to a recent proposal by Cuba, on February 2012, about the possibility of reaching agreement on a bilateral anti-terrorism program, according to the statement.

The U.S. no longer has authority to judge Cuba given its use of state terrorism against the island, which has resulted in 3 478 deaths and 2 099 mutilated persons, reads the statement and notes that the U.S. has historically been a safe haven for dozens of terrorists, while five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters are being unjustifiably incarcerated or held in that country.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry stresses that the United States constitutes the largest money laundry center on the planet, and that the lack of control of its financial system was the detonator of the global economic crisis.

Finally, the Cuban Foreign Ministry urges the US administration to stop lying and to end  such shameful practice, which offends the Cuban people and discredits the international fight against terrorism.

Cuba Denounces Operation Financed by USA Prior Pope's Visit

Havana, Aug 1 (Prensa Latina) Cuba denounced an operation financed by the U.S. government in March, to create internal disorders in the country during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the island.

  According to a special program broadcast on Tuesday night by the Cuban television, some days before the Pope's visit, the denominated Cuban Democratic Directorate, an organization from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), directed the recruitment of eight young Mexicans to travel to the Caribbean country and promote subversive actions.

Between March 14 and 24, states the article, Cuban authorities detained four of those citizens, which has been recruited by Miguel Angel Pateyro. He had carried out activities to support internal counterrevolutionaries and have traveled to Cuba twice.

Pateyro responds to commands from Rene Bolio, former substituting senator of the Mexican National Action Party and collaborator of that political party that has participated in actions against the island since 1999, coordinated with anti-Cuban organizations in Miami, such as the mentioned Directorate and the Cuban-American National Foundation.

During a television interview, the four detainees, because the other four left the country after carrying out their activities, broadcast details of those actions provided for in Cuban territory.

Luis Antonio Nequiz, one of the Mexican citizens, stated that someone paid for his trip to Cuba. His objective was to draw routes of the zone through which more people walk and could distribute leaflets.

Firstly, they showed us a video of the preparation to come to this country and later we were introduced to two members of the Cuban Democratic Directorate who came from Miami, Moises Torres, another of the detainees, said.

Those people said that among their objectives were to take advantage of the media coverage for the Pope's visit to incite people to protest in the streets and take churches, distribute leaflets, and create disorders during the activities related to his Holiness' stay here.

They were also delivered a set of documents aimed to the members of the dissidence, which, if unable to reach their target, they should be destroyed while they reiterated the importance to behave as simple tourists and try to go unnoticed for authorities.

Although the four men were deported, this was not the only way through which they received instructions from Miami. They had similar attitudes as organizations such as the so-called Republican Party of Cuba, which guided the use of churches for their provocations.

A telephone conversation between Ibrahim Bosch, member of the mentioned party based in Miami, and counterrevolutionary Vladimir Calderon, was also broadcast. They talked about details of payments by the subversive actions to develop in the island.

President Raul Castro Sends Acknowledgements to Civil Defense System

 HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 1 (ACN)   Cuban President Raul Castro acknowledged on Tuesday the work done through the years by the Cuban Civil Defense System on the occasion of its 50^th anniversary.

 The Cuban head of state sent the Chief of the Civil Defense System, division general Ramon Pardo Guerra a diploma, which was handed over during a ceremony in Havana by the member of the Political Bureau of Cuba’s Communist Party, deputy minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and Hero of the Republic of Cuba, army corps general Ramon Espinosa.

In his words at the ceremony, general Pardo Guerra recalled the founding of the island’s Civil Defense System back in July 31, 1962 with the historic mission of protecting the population and the country’s economic resources from any risk of an imperialist aggression and terrorist actions by internal counterrevolutionaries.

 In the presence of the main chiefs of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and Communist Party officials, a sculpture by artist Andres Gonzalez was unveiled on the occasion. The work, which symbolizes the contrast between  brutal forces of nature and the human solidarity of the Cuban people in their struggle against adversity,  was located near the Civil Defense headquarters and next to a plaque bearing a statement by Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro reading that “a Revolution is a force, which is more powerful than Nature.”

English Speaking Caribbean Celebrates Emancipation Day

Havana, Ago 1 (Prensa Latina) English-speaking Caribbean countries today celebrate the Emancipation Day, to matk the end of slavery imposed by Britain colonialism for almost four centuries.

  The celebration recalls the signing of the agreement that put an end to slavery in all Britain clonies, in August 1, 1833. However the date was contradictory because only those under six months were free, while the others continued in to service for many years.

British dominion created a new form of colonialism, in which former slaves were forced to work 40 hours a week and live in subhuman conditions.

Although Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica commemorate the anniversary this August 1, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos Islands and British Virgin Islands will do it on Monday.

After 179 of that date, ten countries in the area remain under the Britain dominion, despite their people´s express wish to independence.

Leuris Pupo: first shooting gold medal at London

LONDON Leuris Pupo earned his first major championship and gave Cuba its first shooting gold medal at an Olympics, winning the 25-meter rapid fire pistol at the London Games on Friday.

Pupo scored 34 shots in the final, beating silver medalist Vijay Kumar of India by four shots. His only previous victory was at a World Cup event in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1998. At the past three Olympics, he finished ninth, eighth and seventh. 

"I can't believe it, but it's true," Pupo said. "This is the height of glory for the people in Cuba." 

Pupo said the win meant a lot for his family because his wife is pregnant. He said his mindset changed in the final as he went slightly ahead of the field.

"There were a lot of things going on in my mind," Pupo said. "First I was thinking about bronze. Then I started thinking I could win it."

Pupo reached the final in third position after Alexei Klimov of Russia set a world record in qualification with 592 points, a total that beat his own mark from 2006 by one point.

The world record gave Klimov no advantage for the final. All competitors started from zero under the new Olympic format, eight series in which each shooter fires five shots within four seconds.

From the fourth series, the lowest-scoring competitor is eliminated from the competition. Scoring is hit-or-miss, with any score above 9.6 counting as a hit.

Before the final, Klimov admitted being "a little nervous" but added he was "feeling very positive. New rules mean I must start from scratch."

But he missed five shots total in the third and fourth rounds and could not catch up. He was eliminated after the sixth of the eight series.

Klimov became the second shooter at the London Olympics to set a world record on Friday, after Sergei Martynov of Belarus beat the 12-year-old world record in 50-meter rifle prone by 0.7 point. He won gold with a final score of 705.5 points.

After finishing second in two World Cup events this year, Christian Reitz of Germany was regarded as one of the favorites in 25-meter rapid fire pistol. But he missed four times in his first two series and was the first shooter eliminated in the final.