International

Cuba: “The history of tobacco”

Photo: Pixabay / Fetcaldu

October 17 |

Everyone on the Island knows that this is the longest story in the world, that when your grandfather drops the first word, the knot of worsted is untied, the sentences are chained to each other, the stories are connected to each other and little by little before the eyes is built an eternal road of words that goes around Cuba, goes out to sea and sails around the world until the word tobacco throws twist, ends up in the mouth of a Russian in Siberia.

As far can the stories go as the ships, as close to the sea grow the leaves that Christopher Columbus discovered in the name of the Old World. For more than two centuries, the starting point of this narration has been the hands of the people of Pinar del Río, people from the west, and not precisely the proud conquering the desert, but simple and noble hands that have chosen tradition as a way of life.

Among the modern descendants is Miyelis Canales Machuat, a teacher by profession and vocation, but faced with the vicissitudes of life she had no choice but to take up work on the land as a way of life. Seven years ago her husband passed away, and since tobacco production was the main income for her family, she put all her efforts into running the farm.

But her battles have not been few, last year Cuba registered one of its strongest hurricanes of all times, Ian with category 3 made landfall in Cuba precisely in the town of La Coloma, not far from Miyelis’ farm, who tells us: “when it passed through here, out of 59 tobacco houses that these lands had, only 6 were left standing”.

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“I’m going to be honest, I didn’t think that my tobacco house would have been on the ground, completely destroyed, because it wasn’t new, but it wasn’t in such bad conditions, but that cyclone, the hardest part was after the eye passed, everything was destroyed, all these fields were devastated, completely devastated”.

Cuba
Among the modern descendants is Miyelis Canales Machuat, a teacher by profession and vocation, but faced with the vicissitudes of life she had no choice but to take up work on the land as a way of life. I Photo: teleSUR
Miyelis, who at the time, full of tears, did not know what to do, tells that her children were discouraged, they thought it would be impossible to harvest tobacco, they did not know how to raise again a priest’s house because they lacked the resources. The hurricane had left the production of Pinar del Río totally in ruins.

But giving no place to grief, Canales says that she and her children rebuilt a dream based on rubble, rescued the wood and zinc they could and with that they faced hopelessness. They put their feet on the ground and were able to be even one of the few producers who were able to plant in the previous season. With the house half-built, they obtained more than 50 percent of the plan they had to stockpile.

Photo: teleSUR
“Tobacco takes a lot of dedication but the greatest satisfaction is to see the final result, when you have money that satisfies all the basic needs of your house and others that perhaps are not so basic but that make your life more human.”

Miyelis’ life is a sort of odyssey, an incarnation of Homer if you want to compare. This Cuban woman does not give up, she does not stop thinking that the future is one of construction, of “echar pa’ lante”.

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The history of tobacco is long, but they always have mouths to tell it, adept at unraveling the mysteries in the leaves. Among the smoke of a smoker, made into faint shapes is the voice of the Taino Indians, the voice that whispers “Cohiba”.

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.

International

U.S. counterterrorism chief resigns over opposition to war in Iran

Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced Tuesday that he has resigned from his post, citing his opposition to the ongoing war in Iran.

In a post on X, Kent said he could not, “in good conscience,” support the conflict, arguing that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States. He also claimed that the war was driven by pressure from Israel and its lobbying influence in Washington.

In a resignation letter addressed to Donald Trump, Kent alleged that at the start of the current administration, senior Israeli officials and influential figures in U.S. media carried out a disinformation campaign that undermined the “America First” platform and fostered pro-war sentiment aimed at triggering a conflict with Iran.

Kent further stated that he could not support sending a new generation of Americans to “fight and die in a war that provides no benefit to the American people and does not justify the cost in American lives.”

Since the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on February 28, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed, while 10 others have been seriously wounded and around 200 have sustained minor injuries, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.

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International

German president warns Iran war could spread and disrupt Strait of Hormuz

The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned Monday that the war involving Iran could expand and further disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. He urged a swift end to hostilities between Iran, United States and Israel.

Speaking in Panama City during a joint appearance with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Steinmeier said available information suggests Iran has significant capacity to disrupt maritime traffic through the key oil route.

“Iran has considerable potential to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Steinmeier said through an interpreter. “We should therefore reach an end to the hostilities as soon as possible and call on all parties involved to make that happen.”

The remarks came during Steinmeier’s visit to Panama, the first by a German president to the Central American nation.

The German leader described the possibility of the conflict spreading as “very dangerous,” saying recent developments indicate that such a scenario cannot be ruled out.

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Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump urged allied nations to help ensure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran moved to block the waterway in response to U.S. strikes. However, several allies—particularly in Europe—have shown little support for the proposal.

“Some are very enthusiastic, others are not, and some are countries we have helped for many years,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have protected them from terrible external threats, and they’re not that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm is important to me.”

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said the Strait of Hormuz falls “outside NATO’s scope” and stressed that “the war involving Iran is not Europe’s war.”