International

Cuba’s population in 2024 falls to less than 10 million and will “continue to decrease”

The population of Cuba in 2024 fell below 10 million inhabitants – significantly lower than the 11.1 million in 2021 – and “must continue to decrease,” the Government of the island confirmed on Friday.

This is the first official population figure released since the 2021 census.

As reported to parliament by Juan Carlos Alfonso, first deputy head of the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), this is a “calculation”, which took into account the unprecedented migration of the last three years, as well as deaths.

Alfonso assured that if Cubans who emigrated but who have maintained their residence are considered, either because they spend part of the year on the island or because they have requested an extension from abroad, the figure rises to just over 10.05 million Cubans until 2023.

However, this figure represents a drop of 10.1% compared to residents in 2020 and is a figure similar to the one in Cuba in 1985, the official warned.

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Alfonso also lamented that almost 80% of the ages of emigrants between 2021 and 2023 range between 15 and 59 years old, that is, in their “reproductive and productive” stages.

According to the official figures released this Friday, there are just over 1.2 million Cubans who “remain outside” the country – he did not clarify if they are all migrants and from what period – and 75% are no longer residents of the island.

In addition, he stated that the province of Havana, the most populous, is the one in which there has been a greater population decrease between 2021 and 2023: 15.3%.

In an interview with EFE, last June, Juan Carlos Alfonso himself said that the country will delay at least until 2025 the population census that it had planned to carry out two years ago due to the lack of resources.

According to an independent study by the Cuban economist and demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos, the population of Cuba fell by 18% between 2022 and 2023, to 8.62 million people.

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The calculation is based on the figures of Cubans who have arrived in the United States between October 2021 and April 2024, amounting to 738,680 people, according to information from the US authorities that combine visas, paroles and irregular arrivals.

International

Hiroshima survivor who embraced Obama dies at 88

The emotional embrace between Barack Obama and Hiroshima survivor Mori—who was eight years old when the United States dropped the atomic bomb in 1945—resonated around the world.

According to Asahi Shimbun and other local media, Mori died on Saturday at a hospital in Hiroshima.

Mori, known for his research on the fate of American prisoners of war in Hiroshima, was thrown into a river by the force of the explosion on August 6, 1945, during the atomic bombing of the city.

In a past interview with AFP, ahead of his meeting with Obama at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in 2016, Mori recalled the chaos and desperation that followed the blast.

He described how, after emerging from the water, he encountered injured civilians seeking help amid the devastation, an experience that stayed with him throughout his life.

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In 2016, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he paid tribute to the victims of the first atomic bomb used in warfare. During the visit, Mori was visibly moved as he met the president, sharing a brief but powerful moment that symbolized remembrance and reconciliation.

The bombing of Hiroshima resulted in the deaths of approximately 140,000 people, including those who succumbed to radiation exposure in the aftermath.

Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people and contributing to the end of World War II.

International

Colombia seeks ‘total suffocation’ of armed groups with regional support

Colombia is advancing a strategy aimed at the “total suffocation” of illegal armed groups, seeking to corner them in border regions with the support of Ecuador and Venezuela, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said in an interview with AFP.

According to the minister, coordinated pressure from neighboring countries—backed by United States—aims to dismantle criminal networks that use cross-border routes to traffic Colombian cocaine toward North America and Europe.

For decades, armed groups involved in Colombia’s internal conflict have relied on border territories as strategic rear bases to evade military operations and maintain logistical support.

However, Sánchez said that dynamic is beginning to change.

“We expect a total suffocation between both nations so they have no spaces where they can live or feel safe […] to close off any room they might have,” he stated during the interview in Bogotá, less than five months before the end of President Gustavo Petro’s term.

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Regional developments have reinforced this strategy. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation, Washington has increased its influence in Caracas, where interim leader Delcy Rodríguez has implemented a renewed anti-narcotics policy.

Meanwhile, in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa—a key U.S. ally in the region—has launched a two-week security plan under strict curfews to combat criminal gangs, with U.S. support.

Sánchez argued that these combined efforts leave illegal organizations with fewer escape routes and operational spaces, effectively placing them in a “dead end.”

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.