International
International Workers’ Day celebrated in Cuba
May 5 |
With acts, parades and artistic and cultural events, hundreds of thousands of Cuban workers participated this Friday in the celebration of International Workers’ Day, showed their willingness to continue contributing to the development of the country without departing from the path of socialism and showed solidarity with the struggles of workers around the world.
The celebration was called by the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) and was postponed until this Friday due to inclement weather. Due to the economic situation, this time the events were organized in each municipality, so the celebration of 164 was foreseen and popular participation was extended.
The main event took place in Havana and was headed by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
Before more than one hundred thousand people gathered on Havana’s Malecon, CTC Secretary General Ulises Guilarte said that Cubans are fighting with their own strength and talent to overcome objective difficulties and internal insufficiencies on the road to development.
He emphasized that they are focused on the economic battle, expanding food production, increasing income collection for the country, strengthening the socialist state enterprise and increasing foreign investment, among other goals.
He explained that this collective effort seeks to improve the supply of products and services, control price increases and increase the value of salaries and pensions.
Guilarte denounced the impact of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States (U.S.) against Cuba, which translates into countless difficulties in daily life and is considered the greatest violation of human rights of the inhabitants of the Caribbean nation.
He recalled that only those who fight and resist have the right to triumph, as Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro Ruz once said. He said that his compatriots will never surrender or give up the desire to conquer new victories.
He stressed the value of unity and said that, in addition to facing the challenges of the country’s development, workers will maintain their solidarity with other peoples in the face of the crisis of the capitalist system and its neoliberal policies.
He pointed out that the U.S. articulates new campaigns of manipulation, lies and hatred against the Revolution and this time tried to spread negative opinion matrixes on the popular support to the May Day celebration.
Guilarte considered that Friday’s events and parades, supported by thousands of Cubans, explicitly refuted this thesis, and stressed that what happened is proof of the majority support of the people for the Revolution and its continuity.
The celebration of May Day in Cuba included the celebration in Havana of the International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba and Anti-imperialism 200 years after the Monroe Doctrine, which took place between April 29 and May 2. Around 1,300 guests from different parts of the world attended the event in the Cuban capital.
After postponing to Friday the celebration of International Workers’ Day, the Cuban government declared May 5 a labor holiday and thus allowed the massive participation of the people in the working class celebration.
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
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