Paris, June 6, 2019.UNESCO recognized the Havana restoration work reaching its 500th Anniversary in the presence of Eusebio Leal, historian of Havana.

The Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO, Ernesto Ottone, highlighted the efforts made by Eusebio Leal, institutions and the State, in order to restore and preserve the historic city.

Washington, June 6, 2019. The Center for Responsible Tourism (CREST) expressed its concern about the impact that the new travel restrictions applied from today by the US government may have on the Cuban people.

CREST's executive director, Martha Honey, stated that the news about ending group educational visits of people-to-people contact is a devastating blow for millions of Cubans, as well as for US travel companies, airlines and cruise lines'.

Revolutionary Government Declaration

The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba repudiates, in the strongest terms, measures announced by the United States government on June 4, 2019, reinforcing the economic blockade imposed on Cuba for more than 60 years, at a cost to the Cuban economy that in 2018 exceeded 134 billion dollars at current prices, or 933 billion dollars, when considering the depreciation of the dollar as compared to the value of gold on the international market. As is known, this new escalation, effective June 5, further strengthens the stringent restrictions U.S. citizens face in order to travel to Cuba, and adds full prohibitions on travel by sea from the United States, of all types, and prohibits cruise ship stops in our country immediately. The objective continues to be pressuring the Cuban nation to make political concessions, by strangling the economy and causing damage at the population’s level. In this particular case, the measures also seek to prevent the people of the United States from learning about Cuba’s reality, and thus undermining the slanderous propaganda campaigns against our country that are fabricated on a daily basis.

These actions are contrary to the majority opinion of U.S. citizens, whose interest in seeing Cuba, and exercising their right to travel, is made clear by the 650,000 who visited us in 2018, along with half a million Cubans resident in the United States.

Declaration of the Revolutionary Government

The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba condemns in the strongest terms the measures announced by the United States Government on 4 June 2019, further tightening the economic blockade imposed on Cuba for over 60 years, at a cost for the Cuban economy which amounted to over 134 billion dollars in 2018 at current prices, and to the figure of 933 billion dollars, taking into account the devaluation of the US dollar vis-à-vis the price of gold in the world market.

BANGKOK, June 6, 2019.- The new Director General of the American and South Pacific Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, Ambassador Witchu Vejjajiva, welcomed the Cuban Ambassador to Thailand, Héctor Conde Almeida, for a meeting at the headquarters of that Ministry.

Maseru, June 6, 2019.- The Minister of Health of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Honourable Nkaku Kabi and the Ambassador of Cuba to this country, Rodolfo Benítez Verson, signed today in Maseru two important new Bilateral Cooperation Agreements in the field of Health.

PRESS RELEASE

Geneva, June 3, 2019. "The enigma of La Coubre", a documentary that recalls one of the bloodiest attacks perpetrated by the CIA against the Cuban Revolution, the blasting of La Coubre steam ship, on March 4, 1960, was presented in this city with the presence of its director, Colombian journalist and writer Hernando Calvo Ospina.

Washington, June 5, 2019.The International Association of Cruise Lines (CLIA) reported on Wednesday that travel limitations against Cuba affect almost 800,000 passenger bookings already planned or in progress, which were made under a general license previously issued by the Government which authorized people to travel to Cuba.

Havana, June 5, 2019. The Trump administration’s hostility toward our country seems to have no end. Yesterday the U.S. Treasury Department added to sanctions announced April 17, and the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, the prohibition of "people to people" cultural and educational trips, plus other restrictions on travel and transportation services, remittances, banking, commerce, and telecommunications.