Articles

On 31 January 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he communicated to the U.S. Congress the revocation of the suspension of the possibility of filing lawsuits in U.S. courts under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

Likewise, it approved the reinstatement of the List of Restricted Cuban Entities, with which entities or persons in the United States are prohibited from carrying out transactions, under penalty of being fined and having their assets frozen.  It informed the decision to add the Cuban remittance processing company, Orbit S.A., to that list.

These are not unexpected actions.  They are steps that were missing to undo the late, although positive, decisions announced by President Joseph Biden on January 14.

Paris, February 1, 2025. The VI International Conference "For the Balance of the World," held in Havana from January 28 to 31, was once again the venue for the presentation of the UNESCO International Prize “José Martí”.

In this edition, the Association of United Midwives of the Pacific (Asoparupa) was selected to receive the prestigious award. The award was presented by Anne Lemaistre, Director of the UNESCO Office in Havana, during the opening session of the VI Conference. The event, under the theme "For Dialogue among Civilizations and For a Culture of Peace," brought together more than 600 delegates from 98 countries and 400 Cubans.

In a message sent to the meeting participants, Gabriela Ramos, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, thanked Cuba, the sponsor of the prize since 1994, for its support and emphasized the importance of youth and leaders of change in Latin America and the Caribbean.