Cuba

  • Cubans stage rare street protest over power blackouts

    An appeals court has kept a freeze in place on a Texas immigration law, one of the toughest of its kind, in a case being closely watched across the US.

    The legislation would allow officials in Texas to detain and prosecute anyone they think has entered the country illegally, superseding federal powers.

    The law briefly came into force on Tuesday for a few hours during a legal back and forth between courts.

    A US appeals court heard arguments in the case on Wednesday morning.

    The three-judge panel appeared split on whether the law can remain in place while its constitutionality is being challenged in court.

    They issued no ruling on the case on Wednesday, and it is unclear when they will do so.

    If they opt to let the law go into effect, the Justice Department requested that its effective date be delayed until later to give it time to seek emergency action from the Supreme Court.

    The SB4 law in Texas was due to come into effect on 5 March but President Joe Biden’s administration challenged it on the grounds that immigrant detention should remain in its hands.

    Migrant arrivals at the southern US border have risen to record highs during his administration, making it a top concern among US voters in the run up to November’s presidential election.

    That has led Texas to take stronger action on its border with Mexico and if the courts uphold its new law then other US states may follow.

    Mexico has criticised the new law as anti-immigrant and has said it would refuse to accept anyone deported by Texas authorities.

    Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called the law “draconian” and dehumanizing on Wednesday.

    The decision to freeze the law is the latest in a string of judicial rulings deciding its fate.

    Should it come back into effect, it would mark a significant shift in how immigration enforcement is handled, as courts have previously ruled that only the federal government can enforce the country’s immigration laws – not individual US states.

    Crossing the US border illegally is already a federal crime, but violations are usually handled as civil cases by the immigration court system.

    Under SB4, anyone illegally entering or re-entering Texas faces up to 20 years in prison.

    It is not clear if any migrants were detained while the law was in effect.

    The ruling is the latest in a series of court rulings over whether SB4 can go ahead.

    In January, the Biden administration sued the state of Texas and the following month a district court ruled that SB4 was illegal.

    It blocked it from taking effect over concerns it would lead to each US state having its own immigration laws.

    Soon after, the New Orleans-based US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit – the federal appeals court responsible for the area – said the law may take effect as it considered the appeal, unless the Supreme Court intervened.

    The Biden administration then filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court to uphold the district court’s freeze while the litigation was under way.

    In the meantime, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito placed a hold on the law to give the courts time to decide how it should proceed.

    Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court allowed the measure to take effect while a lower federal appeals court weighed its legality.

    Then in a brief order late on Tuesday night, a three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit voted to freeze the ruling as it hears the appeal.

    Historically, the federal government has created laws and regulations on immigration, even though the US Constitution does not explicitly grant it those powers.

    It is also the federal government that negotiates treaties and agreements with other countries.

    Republicans often criticise Democratic President Biden’s handling of the US-Mexico border, which opinion polls suggest is a prime concern for voters ahead of November’s White House election.

    A Gallup poll released in February suggested that nearly one-third of Americans believe immigration was the single greatest problem the country faced ahead of the government, the economy and inflation.

  • Cuban YouTuber says she is being taken away by state security during live interview

    During her conversation with Spain’s Canal 4, Dina Fernandez interrupted the interview saying “the state’s security forces are here. I have to go”.

    (CNN) Cuban YouTuber Dina Fernandez, known as Dina Stars, said she was being taken away by Cuban state security forces in Havana during a live interview on Tuesday.

    Fernandez was being interviewed, along with singer Yotuel, by Spanish broadcaster Canal 4 about the unprecedented anti-government protests in which thousands of people took to the streets across the communist-run island on Sunday.

    During the conversation, Fernandez interrupted the interview saying “the state’s security forces are here. I have to go,” then handed off her computer to a friend who took it to another room, keeping the camera and microphone on. Male voices can be heard in the background, though it is unclear what they are saying.

    Moments after, the YouTuber returns and tells the interviewer she’s been asked to come with who she said were police officers, adding that the Cuban government is now responsible for her whereabouts.

    No security forces are seen from the video and Fernandez does not appear to be forcibly taken away.

    “I hold the government responsible for anything that could happen to me. I have to go.”

    Fernandez then is asked if she is being detained. She responds, “I don’t know. They told me to come along with them.”

    CNN has contacted the Cuban authorities regarding Fernandez, with no response so far.

    Anti-government activists in the country say that more than 100 people have been arrested or are missing on the island following widespread protests on Sunday.

    The Movimiento San Isidro, which advocates for greater artistic expression in Cuba, published a list of activists that it said were believed to have been detained by authorities.

    Among the detainees is journalist Camila Acosta, according to Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, who called for her release. Acosta writes for the ABC newspaper in Madrid, the Spanish capital.

    One person died during clashes with police on Monday, Cuba’s Ministry of Interior said Tuesday, according to state-run Radio Rebelde.

    The Interior Ministry said the man who died and other protesters had attacked officials.

    On Sunday, CNN journalists witnessed multiple people being forcibly arrested and thrown in the back of vans at protests in Havana. Videos of the protest showed demonstrators turning over a police car and throwing rocks at officers.

    The Cuban government has not said how many people were arrested or injured in the disturbances.

    These are the largest protests on the island in decades, triggered by anger at a lack of food and medicine as the country undergoes a grave economic crisis aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic and US sanctions.

    CNNE’s Kiarinna Parisi contributed to this report.

  • Raul va in pensione, Cuba archivia l’era Castro

    Un vento di cambiamento storico spira su Cuba alla vigilia dell’8/o Congresso del Partito comunista cubano (Pcc) che segnerà, dopo 62 anni, l’uscita definitiva della famiglia Castro dalla guida delle sorti dell’isola caraibica. Durante il Congresso, in programma dal 16 aprile, il novantenne Raúl Castro lascerà, come annunciato in passato, la carica di primo segretario del Pcc, che sarà assunta dall’attuale presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel, di 30 anni più giovane. In agenda anche l’elezione dei 17 membri del ‘Buró Político’ del Pcc, in cui entreranno personalità che, come Díaz-Canel, non sono state protagoniste della ‘Revolución’ del 1959. Non è chiaro se ciò vorrà dire che usciranno dall’organismo gli ultimi 2 esponenti del nucleo duro originario: il 2/o segretario del Pcc, José Ramón Machado Ventura, 90 anni, e il Comandante Ramiro Valdés (88 anni).

    Nel 2008 Raúl, ‘l’eterno secondo’ della rivoluzione, aveva ricevuto il testimone da Fidel, riuscendo negli anni a creare i presupposti di una stagione di disgelo con Washington (2014-2017) che permise a Barack Obama di diventare il primo presidente degli Stati Uniti a visitare Cuba dal 1928. Ma molta acqua è passata sotto i ponti, e l’arrivo di Donald Trump ha significato per L’Avana la fine delle speranze di distensione e nuovi gravi problemi per la sua economia a causa dell’introduzione di numerose sanzioni unilaterali che hanno rafforzato l’embargo in vigore da 59 anni. La pandemia da Covid-19 ha dato il colpo di grazia all’economia, privata dell’afflusso di turisti e di ingresso di valuta, utilizzata per il pagamento dell’importazione di alimenti. Ed è venuto meno anche l’apporto del Venezuela, pure in crisi per le stringenti sanzioni degli Usa. Così lo scorso anno il Pil cubano si è contratto dell’11%. Un’emergenza che è stata all’origine di nuove misure di austerità da parte del governo, che in gennaio ha avviato una profonda riforma monetaria, considerata dagli analisti “un vero e proprio tsunami nella vita dei cubani”. L’unificazione delle 2 monete circolanti ha aggravato il costo della vita e generato una inflazione del 160%.

    Impegnato a rendere possibile una organizzazione dell’economia simile a quella che ha successo in Vietnam, dove esiste un partito unico, in febbraio Díaz-Canel ha deciso l’apertura di quasi tutte le attività economiche al settore privato. E i cubani possono ora dedicarsi a oltre 2.000 tipi diversi di iniziative che prima erano nelle mani dello Stato, il quale si è riservato la gestione di 124 aree strategiche. Negli ultimi tempi, accanto all’emergenza economica, si è manifestato un altro tema riguardante i movimenti di protesta nati negli ultimi mesi, come gli ‘artisti’ di San Isidro, alimentati anche dalla disponibilità di internet e delle reti sociali, che ha aperto nuovi spazi d’informazione ed espressione sull’isola. Ne è una prova il video contestatore ‘Patria y vida’ (allusione al ‘Patria o muerte!’ di Fidel Castro)’, prodotto fra L’Avana e Miami, che in 72 ore è stato riprodotto un milione di volte su YouTube.

  • Natale a Cuba

    Quello che sembra un cinepanettone, “Natale a Cuba”, era fino a pochi anni fa un ossimoro. Racconta la dissidente cubana Yoani Sanchez che per molti anni, mentre il resto dell’Occidente celebrava le festività natalizie, a Cuba i bambini erano costretti sui banchi di scuola.

    Vittime del fervore ideologico comunista e di un ateismo di facciata, i cubani hanno potuto celebrare il Natale per anni solo nell’intimità delle proprie case.
    Da alcuni anni, complice anche l’ammorbidimento all’interno del paese, le celebrazioni si stanno diffondendo. Non in modo ufficiale, visto che non sono approvate dal parlamento, ma con gli studenti che hanno iniziato a stare a casa, tanto da costringere il Ministero dell’Istruzione a prenderne atto e a dover dichiarare una “pausa” di due settimane.

    Il fervore ideologico, però, è duro a morire. Racconta la giornalista che un’anziana vicina l’ha guardata con disprezzo mentre montava delle lucine natalizie. “E’ una tradizione importata”, le ha detto. “Anche il marxismo”, le ha risposto piccata la Sanchez.

Pulsante per tornare all'inizio