Latin America

Cuba-Brazil a Growing Relationship

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff received Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla Monday afternoon at the Planalto Palace. Coinciding with the Cuban’s visit to Brasilia, President Raul Castro welcomed, but in Havana, Fernando Pimentel, Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

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Cuba to Send 6,000 Doctors to Brazil

Some 6,000 Cuban doctors will soon travel to Brazil to work in poor areas with a precarious health situation, the two governments decided today in Brasilia, reported DPA news. The negotiation of the agreement, carried out with the support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

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Assata Shakur in Her Own Words

The FBI has added the former Black Panther Assata Shakur to its Most Wanted Terrorists list 40 years after the killing for which she was convicted. Born Joanne Chesimard, Shakur was found guilty of shooting dead a New Jersey state trooper during a gunfight in 1973. Shakur has long proclaimed her innocence and accused federal authorities of political persecution.She escaped from prison in 1979 and received political asylum in Cuba.

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Capriles Makes Official His Challenge of Venezuelan Elections

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski filed legal recourse on Thursday to challenge the country’s recent presidential elections, narrowly won by Nicolas Maduro on April 14. The aim of the motion is to have the results of these elections declared null and secure new elections, Capriles’ attorneys explained.

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USAID Booted from Bolivia

Bolivian President Evo Morales announced the expulsion of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) during celebrations for International Workers’ Day, held before Bolivia’s Presidential Palace yesterday, May 1st. He accused USAID of “continuing to plot” and carry out political activities against the Bolivian government.

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Obama Vows to Seek GITMO Prison Closure

President Obama has vowed a renewed push to shut down the military prison at Guantánamo Bay more than four years after first pledging its closure. Speaking at a White House news conference, Obama called the indefinite imprisonment of more than 100 people unsustainable, but defended the ongoing force-feeding of those on a three-month hunger strike to win their freedom.

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Cuba’s Mariela Castro Heads to NY and Philly

The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, sexologist Mariela Castro Espín, has obtained permission to travel to Philadelphia to participate in a forum on equality for lesbians and receive an award for her efforts in favor of transsexuals in Cuba, announced the event’s organizers on Tuesday.

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Isabel Allende on Her New Book

The best-selling Chilean novelist Isabel Allende is out with a new book, “Maya’s Notebook: A Novel.” It tells the story of a teenager named Maya Vidal and her struggles with drug addiction, grief and history. Although fiction, the story is rooted in real-life tragedy.

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A Desperate Situation at GITMO, Cuba

The U.S. military has acknowledged for the first time the number of prisoners on hunger strike at the military prison has topped 100. About a fifth of the hunger strikers are now being force-fed. Lawyers for the prisoners say more than 130 men are taking part in the hunger strike, which began in February.

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