Belly of the Beast
@bellyofthebeastcuba.com
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Belly of the Beast tells #Cuba’s untold stories, from the inside. 🇨🇺 Through hard-hitting journalism and stunning cinematography, we inform and inspire. https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/
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Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, boycotted the 2022 Summit in Los Angeles after the Biden administration refused to invite the three countries. Several other heads of state also refused to participate.
According to Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the D.R.'s move to exclude the three countries is a result of “brutal and unilateral pressure” from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Petro’s announcement follows that of Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum, who said on Monday she would not attend the Summit. “We do not agree with the exclusion of any country,” Sheinbaum said.
Colombia's president Gustavo Petro announced Wednesday that he would not attend the Summit of the Americas this December after the Dominican Republic, the event's host, announced that Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua would not be invited.
On October 9, thousands of Cubans gathered at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza. In front of the U.S. Embassy, they raised their voices for justice, peace, and Palestine’s freedom.
The original agreement was signed in 2016 and was updated earlier this year, focusing on sectors like energy, water and food. Cuba’s debt to Spain is estimated at over $2 billion.
The Spanish Council of Ministers approved a schedule for the bilateral restructuring of Cuba’s debt with Spain.
“We’ve never agreed with excluding any country,” said President Claudia Sheinbaum, confirming she will not attend the Summit of the Americas after the (U.S.-engineered) exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
Many are eager to go since they are paid many times more than the small salary they receive on the island. Tens of thousands of Cuban medical personnel continue to provide care to underserved communities in dozens of countries.
The Cuba report mainly focuses on Cuba’s medical cooperation missions worldwide, which the U.S. deems “forced labor.” Cuban doctors and other health professionals volunteer to serve abroad.
The U.S. Department of State published its 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report recently, categorizing Cuba as a tier 3 country, meaning it does not “comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.”
www.state.gov/reports/2025...
In an exclusive interview with Mehdi Hasan for Zeteo, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío explains how U.S. sanctions have crippled the island’s energy system — even blocking access to spare parts.

#Cuba #venezuela
According to the statement, she was not the only Cuban diplomat shut out of the PAHO meeting — another was denied a U.S. visa.
Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced that the U.S. refused Cruz a transit permit to the U.S. capital from New York, where she was attending the UN General Assembly as a part of the Cuban delegation.
Cuba’s Vice Minister of Health Tania Cruz was unable to attend the Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization in Washington last week.
A second case to be heard by the Court features the descendants of Sosthenes Behn, a telecoms tycoon who once held a lease over three docks in Havana and who helped "build up the Nazi war machine," according to the New York Times
The Court took up an Exxon-Mobile lawsuit against three Cuban state-run companies recently. The justices will consider whether the companies are liable under U.S. law or are exempt due to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon rule on two lawsuits related to nationalizations that took place in Cuba 65 years ago.
The Dominican Republic announced that Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua would not be invited to the December Summit of the Americas, which it is hosting, due to the “current context of political polarization.”
The result has been almost exactly the same every time: nearly every country has condemned the embargo. The two countries that have consistently voted against the resolution are the United States and Israel.
Cuba has introduced a resolution every year for the last three decades at the United Nations General Assembly calling on the world to condemn the U.S. embargo against Cuba.