Cuba: A reform that illuminated the land

 by Arlin Alberty Loforte

Granma | May 17, 2019

Fidel during the signing of the Agrarian Reform. Photo: Archive 

Before the bright triumph of the Revolution in January of 1959, Cuba had lived with much poverty. The people of the countryside faced exploitation, disease, hunger, and the ever-present threat of eviction from the land they worked.

Suffering and want, lost lives, injustice, the fierce rule of large landowners was sufficient cause to create the powerful determination of campesinos that was decisive in changing the country’s course. They joined the war of liberation, protecting and feeding the Rebel Army, doing everything in their power to support the nascent Revolution, as they had done during the independence struggles of the previous century.

Cuba and China do not forget their roots

by Mauricio Escuela

López Miera stressed that many Chinese fought alongside Maceo, who left their mark due to their combative self-sacrifice and revolutionary convictions. Photo: Archive

The First Deputy Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Army Corps General Álvaro López Miera, received on Tuesday morning the Director of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, Admiral Miao Hua, who began a working visit to Cuba, with the aim of exchanging experiences in the political-ideological and cultural fields.

The welcoming ceremony included both officers paying tribute to Antonio Maceo and Francisco Gómez Toro at the Cacahual Mausoleum, a site that recalls Cuba’s independence struggle, and highlights the examples of its heroes as valuable weapons in the deconstruction of the ideological lies that imperialist forces launch against the peoples of the world.

U.S. lies and threats against Cuba denounced around the world

by Bertha Mojena Milián

Granma | May 14, 2019

Photo: Osval

Voices around the world continue to condemn new U.S. sanctions on Cuba, in particular the recent activation of the Helms-Burton Act’s Title III.
The government of Mexico reiterated its rejection of the re-activation of this stipulation in violation of international law, and reaffirmed its commitment to legally protect Mexican companies that may be affected. In an official communiqué, the Ministry of Economy recalled that, in order to counteract the extraterritorial effects of the Helms-Burton, Mexico enacted a law that specifically protects commerce and investment from foreign regulations that contravene international norms, in effect since October 1996.

My songs express political commitment to just causes

by Nuria Barbosa León

Granma | May 13, 2019

Photo: ACN

The work of singer-songwriter Gerardo Alfonso, beyond music, has also been to accompany the struggle of solidarity with Cuba organizations in different parts of the world, delivering the message of the Cuban Revolution’s resistance in the face of imperialism, the common enemy of humanity.

Speaking to the artist, he noted that his songs express a political commitment to just causes defended around the world. His music was present in the struggle for the return of Elián González in 2000, kidnapped in Miami; and during the battle for the return of the Five Cuban Heroes incarcerated for more than 15 years in the U.S.

The Helms-Burton is not applicable in Cuba

by Yudy Castro Morales

Granma| May 10, 2019

Photo: José Manuel Correa

“The Helms-Burton Act is not applicable in Cuba; in the first place, because it is a law of the United States and therefore its jurisdiction, its range of action, is the United States. No sovereign country that respects itself would allow the extraterritorial application of a U.S. law in its territory. In addition, in our case, Cuba has a law approved in 1996 that declares the Helms-Burton Act null and void.”

Cuban “troops” saving lives in Venezuela

by Raúl Antonio Capote

Granma | May 06, 2019

More than 20,000 Cuban collaborators, 61% of whom are women, remain in Venezuela fighting to save lives and ensuring the well-being of the population of this sister nation. Photo: Omara García

U.S. President Donald Trump recently threatened Cuba with a “full and complete” blockade, coupled with the “highest-level sanctions,” while John Bolton accused the island of “controlling” the government of Nicolás Maduro.

That lie is repeated without an ounce of shame by the highest officials of the Yankee government, and Donald Trump has ordered Cuba to withdraw “20,000 Cuban soldiers from Venezuela,” even promising a new opening in relations if the island takes its “hands off” Caracas.

Raúl awarded Lenin Prize

by Leticia Martínez Hernández

Granma | May 02, 2019

Photo: Estudio Revolución

Following the massive May Day march through Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, was awarded the Lenin Prize by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation’s Central Committee, “for his exceptional contribution to the construction of socialism and his work to consolidate the principles of justice, humanism, and social progress.”
Upon receiving the distinction from Iván Mélnikov, first vice president of the State Duma and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Raúl said he accepted the honor “not in a personal capacity, but on behalf of our entire people, of Party members, and as a recognition of our Party’s leadership.”