Cuba stages May Day rallies as tensions mount with US
HAVANA, May 1 (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Cubans gathered in Havana's Revolution Square for the traditional May Day march on Thursday, amid a grueling economic crisis and as tensions ratchet up with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
Raul Castro, 93, dressed in a military uniform and referred to as the leader of the revolution begun by his brother Fidel Castro in 1959, and President Miguel Diaz-Canel presided over the march.
The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here.
Diaz-Canel, in a message earlier this week, had called on residents to turn out despite the hard times in a show of unity in the face of increased U.S. pressure.
The first Trump administration imposed new sanctions on the communist-run country on top of the decades-old trade embargo. The government says that action was the main cause of the current crisis, which has seen the economy shrink more than 15% over the last five years.
"Everyone knew that they had to come because it is a moment of revolutionary reaffirmation in these convulsive and difficult times, and especially with imperialism intensifying its policies against Cuba," Diego Fernandez, 42, said as he marched in the Cuban capital.
Other national leaders fanned out across the country to similar events, where large numbers of residents braved blackouts, poor transportation and a scarcity of basic goods to march.
"This celebration of Labor Day in Cuba is a new demonstration of the respect of the Cuban People for their revolution," Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, president of the Cuban Federation of Workers, said as he opened the Havana event.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has promised to "get tough" with Cuba, his parents' homeland. Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy for Latin America, recently stated that new sanctions were being prepared and he believed a change of government in Cuba could be imminent.
Cuba's foreign ministry this week blasted U.S. Chief of Mission Mike Hammer for using his office to foster "subversion" and arrested high-profile dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer, one of a number of government opponents the U.S. diplomat has visited recently.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Obama's doctor says Biden's physician should have given him cognitive tests
Former President Joe Biden 's doctor should have given him more cognitive tests, according to the doctor of former President Barack Obama. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as Obama's doctor between 2009 and 2013, told the New York Post on Saturday that Biden and any politician over the age of 70 should be given "a few hours" of annual mental exams that should be accessible to the public. 'My position is that a 78-year-old candidate, Trump at the time, an 82-year-old president [Biden] would both benefit from neurocognitive testing,' Kuhlman said. He went on to say that "any politician over the age of 70 has normal age-related cognitive decline," and pointed out that he's been recommending annual mental exams for more than a year. Biden's doctor, Kevin O'Connor, oversaw three physicals for the president during his time in office, but Kuhlman says the physical reports did not include notes from a neurocognitive specialist. He also pointed out that Biden did not take the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which Donald Trump agreed to take during his first term. That test is a two-minute screening test of about 30 questions that probes for signs of dementia, according to Kuhlman. Obama's doctor said that he had "no doubts" that Trump "aced" the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, but said he believes that the White House should also release the CT scans taken after Trump's attempted assassination last year. While the Montreal test is able to detect some basic signs of dementia, the doctor noted that it wasn't adequate for determining more serious cognitive issues. According to Kuhlman, mental processing speed and spacial visualization all begin to decline around the age of 60. Kuhlman said he respected O'Connor's medical judgement, but added that "sometimes those closest to the trees miss the forest." O'Connor told the New York Post in July 2024 — just days after the then-president announced he would not run for re-election — that Biden's cognitive health was "excellent." Then-White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted to the public that Biden didn't "need a cognitive test" because he "passes a cognitive test every day." She has since decided to leave the Democratic Party and write a tell-all book about her time in the White House, earning her a savaging by some Democrats. Visitor logs to the White House show that Biden did submit an evaluation form to an expert in Parkinson's Disease, but O'Connor said that the meeting was part of Biden's annual physical. Kuhlman says that the doctor who evaluated Biden in that visit, Kevin Cannard, had been evaluating Biden for 14 years, and that he trusts the doctor's evaluation. O'Connor was subpoenaed by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee on Thursday to stand for questioning about Biden's mental abilities during a hearing on June 27. Shortly after the House investigation was launched, the Trump administration issued a memo stating that it was issuing its own investigation into whether or not people other than Biden used an autopen signature device to sign off on executive actions during the late period of Biden's presidential term. Both investigations follow the release of a book by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, titled Original Sin, that alleges a mass coverup of Biden's cognitive impairment by those closest to him.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Donald Trump slams ‘big-time drug addict' Elon Musk as toxic feud intensifies
DONALD Trump called Elon Musk a 'big-time drug addict' as his spat with the world's richest man intensified. The US President is said to have blasted his billionaire ex-backer as reliant on ketamine in phone calls. 2 It came after the Tesla billionaire linked Mr Trump to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Their feud went public on Thursday night as both men used their own social media platforms — X and Truth Social — to insult each other. Mr Musk, 53, turned on the US leader, calling his Congressional spending bill a 'disgusting abomination' on Wednesday. The President, 78, has called it his 'big, beautiful bill', but Mr Musk believes it will increase national debt by an unsustainable amount. It triggered the ugly public bust-up, with Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and accusing him of being a close associate of Epstein. Yesterday, Mr Musk deleted the post, which was seen hundreds of millions of times. The Washington Post reported Mr Trump used private calls to urge his allies not to pour fuel on the fire and told Vice President JD Vance to be cautious. But the President, whose campaign took £250million from Mr Musk, is also said to have become weary with the tycoon's alleged drug use. He called Mr Musk an 'addict' in the calls and claimed he 'lost his mind' after leaving the administration. The businessman previously admitted using ketamine, but it is alleged he became so hooked last year it affected his kidneys. Trump insists Elon Musk is lashing out at 'big beautiful bill' for personal reason as he admits he's 'disappointed' in Tesla boss Mr Musk officially left the government last week but said he would remain as a 'friend and adviser' to Mr Trump. The President last night said he had 'no intention' of speaking to Mr Musk, adding: 'I think it's a very bad thing because he's very disrespectful'.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Trump-Musk row fuels 'biggest crisis ever' at Nasa
The row between Donald Trump and Elon Musk over a major spending bill has exacerbated uncertainty over the future of Nasa's budget, which is facing deep cuts. The space agency has published its budget request to Congress, which would see funding for science projects cut by nearly a science missions, which are in development or in space already, are in line to be stood president has threatened to withdraw federal contracts with Musk's company, Space X. Nasa relies on the firm's Falcon 9 rocket fleet to resupply the International Space Station with crew and supplies. The space agency also expects to use its Starship rocket to send astronauts to the Moon and eventually to Mars once it has been Simeon Barber, a space scientist at the Open University said that the uncertainty was having a "chilling impact" on the human space programme."The astonishing exchanges, snap decisions and U turns we've witnessed in the last week undermine the very foundations that we build our ambitions on."Space science and exploration relies upon long term planning and cooperation between government, companies and academic institutions." Aside from the feud between the President and Mr Musk, there is also concern about deep cuts requested by the White House to Nasa's budget. All sectors have been earmarked for savings, apart from an effort to send astronauts to Mars, which has received a $100m (£736,000) to Casey Dreier, chief of space policy for the Pasadena-based Planetary Society, which promotes space exploration, the potential cuts represent "the biggest crisis ever to face the US space programme". Nasa has said that its request to reduce its overall budget by nearly a quarter "aligns (its) science and technology portfolios to missions essential for the exploration of the Moon and Mars".Dr Adam Baker, a space analyst at Cranfield University told BBC News that if these proposals are approved by Congress, it would fundamentally shift the agency's focus."President Trump is repurposing Nasa for two things: to land astronauts on the Moon before the Chinese and to have astronauts plant a US flag on Mars. Everything else is secondary." Those who back the proposals say the White House's budget has given Nasa a clear purpose, for the first time since the days of the Apollo Moon landings of the 1960s and 70s, when the aim was to beat the Soviet Union to the Moon. Nasa's critics say that since then the space agency has become a bloated, unfocussed bureaucracy which routinely goes massively over budget in its space missions and wastes taxpayer's money. One of the most egregious examples of this is Nasa's new rocket for its plans to return American astronauts to the Moon, the Space Launch System (SLS). Its development has been delayed, and costs have spiralled such that it costs $4.1bn (£3.3bn) for each and every launch. By contrast, SpaceX's equivalent rocket system, Starship, is estimated to cost around $100m (£80m) per launch because it is designed to be reusable. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin space company promises similar savings for its proposed New Glenn no one's surprise, SLS will be phased out under the White House proposals, in the hope that Starship and New Glenn can take its place. But the past three development launches of Starship have been unsuccessful, and Blue Origin has only recently begun to test its Moon rocket."The worry is that Nasa may be jumping out of the frying pan, into the fire," says Dr Barber."The development of these alternatives to SLS is being bankrolled by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. "If they lose their appetite for this endeavor and SpaceX or Blue Origin say they need more money to develop their systems, Congress will have to give it to them," says Dr Barber. Of greater concern, says Dr Barber, is the potential loss of 40 missions to explore other planets and to monitor the impact of climate change on Earth from space, many of which involve collaborations with international partners."I think it is very sad that what has taken so long to build can be knocked down with a wrecking ball so quickly with no plan to rebuild it afterwards."The projects facing the axe include dozens of planetary missions already in space for which most of the development and launch costs have already been paid for, with relatively small savings proposed on their operating costs. Also under threat are two collaborations with the European Space Agency: An ambitious plan to bring martian rocks collected by Nasa's Perseverance Rover back to Earth and a mission to send Europe's Rosalind Franklin Rover to the red planet to search for signs of past Sir Martin Sweeting, head of the UK space firm Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, and co-author of a Royal Society report on the future of space says that while the development was "unwelcome", there may be an upside for Europe as it takes greater responsibility for its own space exploration programme."Maybe we have been too reliant on Nasa the big player to carry a lot of the emphasis in space," he told BBC News."It is an opportunity to think about how Europe wants to get a better balance in its space activities."But there is much more downside for Europe in the short term. As well as the return of Mars samples and its Rover, ESA risks reduced access to the International Space Station if it is wound down, and the budget cuts cancel Nasa's extensive contributions to its successor, the Lunar Gateway, a multinational space station planned for orbit around the Moon. In its recently published strategy ESA stated it "will be seeking to build a more autonomous space capability, and to continue being a reliable, strong and desirable partner with space agencies from around the globe," with the implication that it would do so with or without facing cuts are numerous current and proposed Earth Observation programmes according to Dr Baker."These Earth observation programmes are our canary in the coal mine," he told BBC News."Our ability to predict the impact of climate change and mitigate against it could be drastically reduced. If we turn off this early warning system it is a frightening prospect".The budget proposals have yet to be approved by Congress. The planetary Society's Casey Dreier has told BBC News that many Republicans have told lobbyists privately that they are prepared to vote against the Mr Dreier worries that there is a strong possibility that political gridlock might mean that no budget will be agreed. It is likely that the reduced White House budget would be put in place as an interim measure, which could then not easily be reversed, because once space missions are turned off it is hard, if not impossible, to start them up again.
