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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, July 19th 2026 - 00:03 UTC

Tag: Cuba

  • Tuesday, July 14th 2026 - 07:24 UTC

    Trump says US is investigating whether Iran stores drones in Cuba

    “If they do have that, and they might very well have that, we'll take care of it in short order. We're not going to allow that to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office

    US President Donald Trump said on Monday that his government is investigating whether Iran is storing drones in Cuba and warned that Washington would act if their presence on the island is confirmed, though he framed the matter as a hypothesis that has not been verified.

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  • Thursday, July 9th 2026 - 04:13 UTC

    Cuba details business reforms opening private firms to foreign investment

    Among the changes, authorities will allow the creation of larger private firms, with no size limit, and let a single person own more than one company

    The Cuban government on Wednesday set out the scope of measures on the management model for its state and private economic actors, part of a package of 176 reforms approved in June by the National Assembly with the stated aim of liberalizing and decentralizing the island's economy.

  • Saturday, June 20th 2026 - 06:57 UTC

    Cuba approves its deepest market reforms in over a decade amid public skepticism

    President Miguel Díaz-Canel justified the package before the Communist Party's Central Committee with the premise of “changing whatever needs to be changed”

    Cuba's National Assembly approved on Friday a package of 176 measures that introduces market dynamics into the island's economy, in the deepest shift since the reforms promoted by Raúl Castro in 2011. The government presented the plan as a response to the worst economic crisis in decades, though much of the population receives it with skepticism.

  • Friday, June 12th 2026 - 19:35 UTC

    Díaz-Canel unveils reforms to liberalize Cuba's economy amid an oil crisis and US sanctions

    The reform also envisages a reduction of the state apparatus —from 27 to 20 ministries, according to a draft law— to cut spending and finance a future salary reform

    Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday announced a broad package of economic reforms, under the so-called Economic and Social Program for 2026, to confront one of the most severe crises in the island's recent history, amid strong pressure from Donald Trump's government. “These are times when we have to change,” the president said, without specifying an entry-into-force date or the legal norms that will underpin each measure.

  • Thursday, June 11th 2026 - 22:46 UTC

    Cuba accuses Rubio of tightening the US economic and energy blockade after Cupet sanction

    Rubio accused the Cuban government of using energy “as a weapon” and of diverting resources to enrich itself, a claim that, according to news agencies, he did not back with evidence.

    Cuba's government on Thursday accused US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of “further reinforcing” the economic and energy siege against the island, after Washington sanctioned the state company Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet), which handles crude extraction, refining and production. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez charged that Rubio resorts to “usual vulgar lies” to justify the measure.

  • Tuesday, May 19th 2026 - 02:09 UTC

    After CIA director's trip to Havana, Cuba warns of “bloodbath” in case of attack

    “The threats of military aggression against Cuba from the greatest power on the planet are well known,” Díaz-Canel argued

    Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned on Monday that a possible US military attack on the island “will provoke a bloodbath of incalculable consequences,” in the most explicit hardening of Havana's discourse toward Washington since the start of the oil blockade imposed in January. The message, released through the X social media platform, coincided with the public confirmation that the Cuban government has acquired more than 300 drones from China and Iran, a purchase that island authorities framed as part of the exercise of their “legitimate defense.” The rhetorical shift comes just four days after the visit to Havana by the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe.

  • Saturday, May 16th 2026 - 03:45 UTC

    Trump claims he will engineer a “turnaround” in Cuba and pull it away from China and Russia

    “I think we are going to turn it around,” Trump replied when asked about the possibility of Cuba leaning toward the United States

    US President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration will bring the Cuban government to align with Washington and pull away from the orbit of China and Russia, in his first public comments on the island since the unprecedented visit by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Havana on Thursday. The remarks, delivered during an interview with journalist Bret Baier on Fox News, come in a week marked by contradictory US gestures toward the Cuban regime: the humanitarian offer of USD 100 million accepted by Havana, the judicial pressure on former president Raúl Castro, and the opening of a direct channel between US and Cuban intelligence services.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 05:08 UTC

    Washington considers prosecuting Raúl Castro over 1996 shootdown of civilian planes

    The incident that would underpin the indictment took place on 24 February 1996

    The US government is weighing a federal indictment against former Cuban president Raúl Castro over the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue, the CBS network and the Reuters news agency reported on Thursday, citing official sources. The potential charges, which still require grand jury approval, emerge on a day marked by escalating tensions between Washington and Havana and by a confidential visit to the Cuban capital by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 02:58 UTC

    Cuba accepts USD 100 million in US humanitarian aid amid energy collapse

    The US energy blockade has aggravated the structural crisis the island has been dragging since the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the resulting interruption of the Venezuelan supply

    The Cuban government on Thursday accepted the United States' offer of USD 100 million in humanitarian aid for food, fuel, and medicines, in a significant political shift after weeks of public rejection and hours after authorities on the island acknowledged the complete exhaustion of their fuel reserves. The aid will be channeled through the Catholic Church, according to the official statement issued by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who only the day before had described the US offer as “inconsequential and paradoxical.”

  • Monday, May 11th 2026 - 03:51 UTC

    Up to 8,000 Latin Americans fight in Ukraine for Russia, many deceived, international report finds

    In Peru, lawyers representing affected families report at least 13 dead, 73 missing, and more than 600 nationals recruited

    An international report presented in Kyiv in late April estimates that between 1,000 and 8,000 Latin Americans are serving in the Russian army in its war against Ukraine, in what its authors describe as a global human-trafficking network run to replenish front-line casualties. The document, titled “Fighters, Mercenaries or Victims of Human Trafficking?”, was produced by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Ukrainian organization Truth Hounds, and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights.

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