Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Cuba
Book review: Castro knew from Cuban Embassy in Mexico JFK was about to be killed in 1963
Cuban leader Fidel Castro knew that President John F. Kennedy was about to be assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, a former CIA agent has claimed in his new book. Castro was clearly aware that Oswald had told staff at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City that he was going to murder the then US President Kennedy to prove his allegiance to communist cause, according to author Brian Latell, the United States spy agency’s former chief intelligence officer for Latin America. In fact, on the morning of November 22, 1963, the day Kennedy was killed, Castro had ordered a senior intelligence officer in Havana to stop listening for non-specific CIA radio communications and concentrate instead on “any little detail, any small detail from Texas”, Latell claims in his new book. The author has based his book on interviews with former Cuban spies, backed up by declassified US government papers.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Castro-knew-JFK-was-about-to-be-killed-in–63–Book/925740/
Newsline: UK consul in Havana died of natural causes
A British diplomat died while on a training course in Washington after mistakenly thinking he had food poisoning, an inquest has heard. Jonathan Wolstenholme thought something he had eaten the night before had made him unwell when he arrived in the U.S. from his government posting in Cuba. Unbeknown to the 51-year-old, he was suffering from a life-threatening complication of his type one diabetes. When Mr Wolstenholme failed to attend the second day of the course at the British Embassy in Washington, the organisers became concerned and repeatedly tried to raise him on the telephone. During the early hours of October 19 last year, hotel staff let themselves into Mr Wolstenholme’s room at the Savoy Suites Hotel and found him slumped at the foot of his bed. He was declared dead on the floor of the hotel room. A post mortem examination concluded that he died as a result of diabetic ketoacidosis which occurs when the body cannot use sugar (glucose) as a fuel source because there is no insulin or not enough insulin. The early symptoms of the condition can include nausea and vomiting. Berkshire Coroner Peter Bedford concluded that Mr Wolstenholme died as a result of natural causes. Mr Wolstenholme was Her Majesty’s Consul based in Havana, Cuba, after being posted there in 2010 where he worked alongside the Ambassador Dianna Melrose. Mr Wolstenholme’s wife Karen, who is the British Ambassador in Korea, told how when she went to clear out her husband’s home in Havana, she found he had not taken with him the ‘long-term insulin’ he took at night time. She explained that when he mistook the symptoms as being food poisoning he may also have taken less insulin when he actually needed more.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2105975/Our-man-Havana-dies-mistaking-deadly-diabetes-problem-food-poisoning.html
Newsline: Cuba Pulls Diplomats Out of Libya
The Cuban Foreign Ministry announced the withdrawal of its diplomatic personnel from the island’s embassy in Libya.Cubahas strongly opposed the foreign military intervention in the North African nation. In its statement to the media, the Cuban government maintains that “the foreign intervention and military aggression by NATO has worsened the conflict and kept the Libyan people from being able to work towards a negotiated and peaceful solution making full use of their self-determination.” “Cubadoes not recognize the National Transition Council or any provisional authority and will only recognize a government that is established legitimately and without foreign intervention, via the free, sovereign will of the Libyan people,” emphasizes the foreign ministry statement. Cuba further accuses NATO of using the pretext of protecting civilian lives to intervene and then “preceding to kill thousands of civilians” while “not recognizing constructive initiatives off the African Union and other countries and even violating the questionable resolutions of the US Security Council, in particular with the attack on civilian objectives, the financing and supply of weapons to one party, as well as the deployment of diplomatic and operative personnel in the field.” Cuba further denounced that the NATO is moving towards creating similar conditions for an intervention in Syria and demands an end to foreign interference in that Arab country.
Newsline: Solomons to set up three more foreign missions
Solomon Islands is setting up three new overseas missions in Switzerland, Cuba and New Zealand. The Government says the establishment of new missions is an important strategic move for future development. The country’s ambassador to the United Nations inNew York, Colin Beck, says working out staffing is one of the hurdles. “We have actually already established an embassy account inCuba, we’ve looked at the administrative arrangement as well as accommodation. So really, we are talking about time frame in which to deploy staff, and at the moment looking at trying to have staff move as soon as practical, before the end of the year. That applies to both the Havana office as well as to the Geneva office.” While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is confident the Havana and Geneva missions will be fully operational by the end of the year, it is still not clear when the New Zealand Mission will be established.
Newsline: Foreign Diplomats Do Volunteer Work in Havana
Convened by the Embassy of Venezuela in Cuba, diplomats from several countries volunteered to clean up an elementary school in Havana. A Venezuelan embassy spokesperson said that this day of volunteer work was in remembrance of the birth anniversaries of Argentinean guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara, Cuba’s 19th century Independence War General Antonio Maceo and of Ecuadorian Eloy Alfaro. Other historical landmarks being recalled were the 190th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo, the Day of the National Bolivarian Army and Labor Day in Trinidad and Tobago. This is like the 20th time diplomats inHavanaassemble for such an endeavor. The invitation read that this was a noble gesture toward the Cuban people for all the support they have given people around the world.
Newsline: Ex-diplomat testifies in perjury case
A conservative former U.S. diplomat is set to testify in an ex-CIA agent’s perjury trial. Otto Reich is testified for the defense Friday in the trial of Cuba-born 83-year-old anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles. Reich is a Cuban-American and a former assistant secretary of state. Reich is expected to testify about the alleged pro-Cuba bias of reporter Ann Louise Bardach. Bardach worked for The New York Times when she interviewed Posada about 1997 bombings in Cuba. She testified that she and Posada remain amiable and that she’s no communist sympathizer. Posada sneaked into the U.S. in 2005. He faces perjury, obstruction and immigration fraud charges. He’s accused of lying during citizenship hearings in Texas about how he reached America, and of failing to acknowledge masterminding the Cuba bombings.
Newsline: Cuba FM blames US for Libya violence
Cuba’s top diplomat accused U.S. media outlets and politicians of “inciting violence” in Libya, where forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi have launched a bloody crackdown on protesters that has killed hundreds. The statement by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez is the first formal sign that the island’s government shares a view expressed by revolutionary leader Fidel Castro about Gadhafi, a longtime ally. Witnesses and human rights groups say Gadhafi’s forces have fired on unarmed protesters with machine guns and other heavy weapons.
Newsline: Suriname Embassy Opened in Havana
The Foreign Ministers of Suriname, Lygia Kraag-Keteldijk, and Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parilla, presided over the official opening ceremony of the country’s embassy in Havana, with headquarters in the Miramar Business Center. Kraag-Keteldijk recalled the good record of the contacts between both nations, from the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979, always based on “solidarity, mutual respect and cooperation.”
http://www.periodico26.cu/english/news_cuba/jan2010/surinamese-fm011610.html
Newsline: Cuba Gives US Diplomat Access To Arrested American
The Cuban government has given a U.S. diplomat access to a jailed American citizen accused of providing communications equipment to dissident groups while working as a government contractor. The visit by a consular official took place at an undisclosed location where the American is being held following his arrest in early December, according to a spokeswoman at the U.S. Interests Section, which Washington maintains in Havana instead of an embassy. In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the Obama administration remains “focused on the welfare of the detained U.S. citizen.”
http://wap.cbsnews.com/site?sid=cbsnews&pid=sections.detail&catId=TOP&storyId=6034559
