https://www.scmp.com/rss/323640/feed The latest stories on Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary, politician and former President of Cuba, including Cuba news and updates. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amid ongoing talks between the Trump administration and Cuban leaders, Sandro Castro, the controversial grandson of Fidel Castro, told a major US television news network that most Cubans on the island want to embrace capitalism and that the country’s hand-picked president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, has done a poor job. His statements to CNN’s Havana correspondent, Patrick Oppmann, echoed earlier calls by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a change of leadership in Havana, and seem to suggest that... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3348622/fidel-castros-grandson-backs-capitalism-and-trump-deal-slams-cuba-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3348622/fidel-castros-grandson-backs-capitalism-and-trump-deal-slams-cuba-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Apr 2026 05:23:55 +0000 dpa dpa Cuba has refused to allow the US embassy in Havana to import diesel to power its generators during the island’s ongoing energy crisis, according to a media report. The Cuban foreign ministry denied the request, The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing a protest note in which Havana described the embassy’s claim to such privileges as “shameless” and unavailable to the Cuban people. The move comes as the Caribbean island grapples with severe fuel shortages and widespread power outages. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3347453/cuba-rejects-shameless-us-request-diesel-amid-trump-oil-blockade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3347453/cuba-rejects-shameless-us-request-diesel-amid-trump-oil-blockade?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Mar 2026 23:39:39 +0000 Jill Lander Jill Lander The first month of the 2026 Chinese calendar, from February 4 to March 4, is represented by the Metal Tiger or geng yin. We have now left the year of the Wood Snake to embrace the year of the Fire Horse. In Chinese astrology, the Horse is the spirit of untamed motion that explores, expands and expresses itself without restraint. The Horse is not simply fast: it is purposeful. It runs towards something, seeking meaning in movement. To understand the energy of 2026, we must first understand what... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3343009/whats-your-luck-february-2026-metal-tiger-month-kicking-fire-horse-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3343009/whats-your-luck-february-2026-metal-tiger-month-kicking-fire-horse-year?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Feb 2026 06:00:10 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The US government on Thursday announced an additional US$6 million in aid for Cuba as the island’s crisis deepens and tensions escalate between the two countries, with Cuba’s president accusing the US of an “energy blockade”. The aid was largely meant for those living in Cuba’s eastern region, which Hurricane Melissa slammed into late last year. The supplies include rice, beans, pasta, cans of tuna and solar lamps that will be delivered by the Catholic Church and Caritas, said US Department of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3342640/us-pledges-food-aid-cuba-while-putting-squeeze-fuel-supply?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3342640/us-pledges-food-aid-cuba-while-putting-squeeze-fuel-supply?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Feb 2026 07:35:56 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press In the wake of last weekend’s US military action in Venezuela, the US news media got something it has seldom heard from the Trump administration: a “thank you”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited news organisations that had learned in advance about last Saturday’s strike that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with not putting the mission in jeopardy by publicly reporting on it before it happened. Rubio’s acknowledgement was particularly noteworthy because US Defence... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338899/trump-team-praises-us-media-keeping-its-venezuela-raid-plan-secret?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338899/trump-team-praises-us-media-keeping-its-venezuela-raid-plan-secret?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jan 2026 07:38:28 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse The United States, which on Saturday attacked Venezuela and is said to have abducted its president, has a long history of military interventions and support for dictatorships in Latin America. On multiple occasions the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro – who Donald Trump says is now in US hands – accused Washington of backing coup attempts. Here are the main US interventions in Latin America since the Cold War. 1954: Guatemala On June 27, 1954, colonel Jacobo... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338634/us-interventions-latin-america-history-coups-and-conflicts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338634/us-interventions-latin-america-history-coups-and-conflicts?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Jan 2026 15:16:04 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Many Western critics of China seem to suffer from the same fallacy as some police detectives and anti-pornography activists who believe that porn turns people into rapists. You may find porn in the personal collections of some serial rapists and sadistic killers, but that’s because statistically, most men and some women also use porn. In something analogous, some critics of China remark that many Chinese public intellectuals and scholars have been turning to Western authoritarian or anti-liberal... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3333069/dont-blame-china-americas-authoritarian-turn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3333069/dont-blame-china-americas-authoritarian-turn?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Nov 2025 01:30:10 +0000 Lynn Farah Lynn Farah As Secretary of State, Marco Rubio is America’s top diplomat and was tasked with overseeing more than 70,000 federal employees at the time of his appointment in January. The former Republican presidential nominee faced-off against Trump in 2016, using his family’s immigrant story as a central theme during his political campaign. Although Rubio has pushed their story as the epitome of the ‘American dream,’ the murky details around his parent’s immigration are still linked to his political image... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3305948/who-are-us-secretary-state-marco-rubios-parents-mario-and-oriales-rubio-moved-miami-cuba-1956-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3305948/who-are-us-secretary-state-marco-rubios-parents-mario-and-oriales-rubio-moved-miami-cuba-1956-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Apr 2025 11:00:08 +0000 The US Senate unanimously approved Marco Rubio as secretary of state on Monday, putting the fellow senator on the front line of President Donald Trump’s often confrontational diplomacy. Rubio, who is the first Hispanic and first fluent Spanish speaker to assume the position of top US diplomat, is Trump’s first cabinet nominee to be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, only hours after the inauguration. Unusually in a highly partisan era, Rubio was confirmed 99-0, with several senators from... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3295559/marco-rubio-track-take-office-quickly-us-secretary-state?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3295559/marco-rubio-track-take-office-quickly-us-secretary-state?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Jan 2025 23:50:27 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Two powerful earthquakes rocked southern Cuba in quick succession on Sunday, US geologists said, just days after the island was struck by a hurricane that knocked out power nationwide. The quakes cracked walls and damaged homes, but did not appear to have caused any deaths, according to preliminary reports. They left many residents running into the streets and badly shaken so soon after the passage of Hurricane Rafael, a category 3 storm, which struck the island last Wednesday. “It’s the last... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3285985/eastern-cuba-rocked-earthquake-magnitude-68?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3285985/eastern-cuba-rocked-earthquake-magnitude-68?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Nov 2024 20:01:13 +0000 It did not take Jean-Luc Melenchon long to seize the moment after initial poll indications of the French legislative vote showed the leftist New Popular Front was headed to a shock victory. Before other leaders of that alliance – which includes his own far-left France Unbowed, the Socialists and the Greens – could get a word in, Melenchon took centre stage at a gathering of followers, demanding that it should be called on to govern the country. He also declared that the New Popular Front will... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3269528/who-jean-luc-melenchon-leftist-leader-defiant-after-french-election-victory?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3269528/who-jean-luc-melenchon-leftist-leader-defiant-after-french-election-victory?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Jul 2024 20:26:42 +0000 Igor Patrick Igor Patrick On October 23, 1962, US secretary of state Dean Rusk convened the Council of the Organization of American States for an emergency meeting in Washington. Following an agreement between Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, he told the members, two American aircraft discovered the construction of nuclear missile facilities in Cuba. Rusk tried to convince the Latin American partners that a crisis of this kind threatened the whole region and that all OAS members should... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3226144/why-reports-chinese-spy-base-cuba-are-met-shrugs-latin-america-where-us-influence-waning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3226144/why-reports-chinese-spy-base-cuba-are-met-shrugs-latin-america-where-us-influence-waning?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Jun 2023 16:01:08 +0000 Bolivian general Gary Prado Salmon, who captured communist revolutionary icon Ernesto “Che” Guevara in 1967, died on Saturday aged 84, his son revealed on social media. “He was accompanied by his wife and children,” wrote Gary Prado Arauz on Facebook. “He left us a legacy of love, honesty and mettle. He was an amazing person.” Prado Salmon was in charge of a patrol in southwestern Bolivia on October 8, 1967, that captured the Argentine revolutionary, who was injured during the military... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3219713/bolivian-general-who-captured-communist-revolutionary-che-guevara-dies-age-84?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3219713/bolivian-general-who-captured-communist-revolutionary-che-guevara-dies-age-84?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 May 2023 16:58:45 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Pablo Milanes, the Latin Grammy-winning balladeer who helped found Cuba’s nueva trova movement and toured the world as a cultural ambassador for Fidel Castro’s revolution, has died in Spain, where he had been undergoing treatment for blood cancer. He was 79. One of the most internationally famous Cuban singer-songwriters, he recorded dozens of albums and hits like “Yolanda,” “Yo Me Quedo” (I’m Staying) and “Amo Esta Isla” (I Love This Island) during a career that lasted more than five... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3200525/cuban-singer-songwriter-pablo-milanes-dies-79?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3200525/cuban-singer-songwriter-pablo-milanes-dies-79?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Nov 2022 06:39:50 +0000 Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday during a visit to Cuba that he will emphasise to his US counterpart Joe Biden that no country should be left out of the US-hosted Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June. “Nobody should exclude anyone,” Lopez Obrador said at a public event. The US government has stated that Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government were unlikely to be invited because the summit is meant to showcase democracy in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3176989/mexicos-president-says-no-country-should-be-excluded-americas-summit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3176989/mexicos-president-says-no-country-should-be-excluded-americas-summit?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 May 2022 19:19:04 +0000 dpa dpa The Biden administration on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions against the besieged Cuban government for its violent crackdown on demonstrators. Officials said the sanctions target specific members of the communist-ruled island’s government who are deemed responsible for the repression of protesters demanding more freedom, food and health care. “I unequivocally condemn the mass detentions and sham trials that are unjustly sentencing to prison those who dared to speak out in an effort to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3142174/joe-biden-hits-cuba-more-sanctions-over-its-violent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3142174/joe-biden-hits-cuba-more-sanctions-over-its-violent?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jul 2021 23:38:51 +0000 Reuters Reuters Raul Castro was among thousands who attended a government-organised rally in Havana on Saturday to denounce the US trade embargo and reaffirm their support for Cuba’s revolution, a week after unprecedented protests rocked the communist-run country. Government supporters gathered on the city’s seafront boulevard before dawn to wave Cuban flags and photos of late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his brother Raul. The latter retired as Communist Party leader in April but promised to continue... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3141540/fidel-castros-brother-raul-attends-mass-government-rally-havana?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3141540/fidel-castros-brother-raul-attends-mass-government-rally-havana?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Jul 2021 18:59:57 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Cuba marked the end of an era on Monday with the official transfer of power from the Castro clan, in charge for six decades, to the communist country’s first civilian leader, Miguel Diaz-Canel. The transition, while hugely symbolic, is unlikely to result in dramatic policy shifts in the one-party system that Diaz-Canel, 60, has vowed to safeguard. “The most revolutionary thing within the Revolution is to always defend the party, in the same way that the party should be the greatest defender of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3130206/end-castro-era-cuba-welcomes-first-civilian-leader-miguel-diaz?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3130206/end-castro-era-cuba-welcomes-first-civilian-leader-miguel-diaz?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Apr 2021 23:45:10 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Raul Castro said on Friday he is resigning as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, ending an era of formal leadership by him and his brother Fidel Castro that began with the 1959 revolution. The 89-year-old Castro made the announcement Friday in a speech at the opening of the eighth congress of the ruling party, the only one allowed on the island. He said he was retiring with the sense of having “fulfilled his mission and confident in the future of the fatherland”. Castro did not say who he would... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3129934/raul-castro-steps-down-ending-long-era-cuba?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3129934/raul-castro-steps-down-ending-long-era-cuba?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Apr 2021 21:08:06 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Dialogue over freedom of expression between Cuba’s government and artists who organised a rare protest last week hit an impasse Friday as communist authorities accused some of them of being financed by the United States. Cuba’s Culture Ministry said it would not meet the artist collective’s delegates, accusing them of receiving “funding, logistical and propaganda support from the US government and its officials”. The group of artists and intellectuals, which has begun calling itself “27N” – for... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3112717/cuba-talks-freedom-expression-break-down-after-rare-protest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3112717/cuba-talks-freedom-expression-break-down-after-rare-protest?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Dec 2020 08:43:40 +0000 Reuters Reuters The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on Cuba’s defense minister, accusing him of human rights violations and supporting socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. Washington blacklisted Leopoldo Cintra Frias, minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba (MINFAR), and his children, Deborah Cintra Gonzalez and Leopoldo Cintra Gonzalez, in its latest action targeting Havana for its support of Maduro. Pompeo said MINFAR had... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3044406/us-imposes-sanctions-cuban-defence-minister-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3044406/us-imposes-sanctions-cuban-defence-minister-over?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Jan 2020 23:28:21 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Cuba’s first prime minister in more than four decades- long-serving tourism minister Manuel Marrero - took office Saturday as the country resurrected a post last held by Fidel Castro. The appointment of Marrero, 56, as head of government is part of a process of decentralisation and generational change from the revolutionary old guard that is aimed at extending and protecting Communist Party rule. “This proposal was duly approved by the political bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba,” President... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3043117/cuba-appoints-manuel-marrero-its-first-prime-minister-fidel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3043117/cuba-appoints-manuel-marrero-its-first-prime-minister-fidel?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Dec 2019 22:46:09 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Since its founding by Spanish colonists, the Cuban capital, Havana, has become a byword for Latin American romance and revolutionary nostalgia. With the city celebrating its 500th anniversary on November 16, four Havana residents whose lives reflect its history and its recent changes talk about their experiences. Yosbel Sosa, 33, drives what he calls a “time machine” – a black Chevrolet Impala with red and white seats, dating to 1959, the year of late leader Fidel Castro’s revolution. In it, he... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3037920/havana-turns-500-four-reflections-life-capital-cuba-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3037920/havana-turns-500-four-reflections-life-capital-cuba-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Nov 2019 10:00:11 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Cuba slammed the United States at the United Nations Saturday for barring former president Raul Castro and his family from entering the country. Washington announced travel sanctions on Thursday that made Castro – brother of late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro – and his relatives ineligible for travel to America. “This is an action that is void of any practical effect, aimed at offending Cuba’s dignity and the feelings of our people,” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told the UN General... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3030808/cuba-slams-us-united-nations-banning-castro-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3030808/cuba-slams-us-united-nations-banning-castro-family?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Sep 2019 18:22:51 +0000 Nestling alongside Havana’s old town, surrounded by colonial buildings and swept by the exhaust trails of passing 1950s American convertibles, stands a large arch with an ornate roof. It is the entrance gate to Havana’s Chinatown, once the biggest in Latin America, whose residents are now dreaming of recovering its past glory. Here, taxi drivers joke that it is the only Chinatown in the world without any Chinese, a testament to the assimilation of a migrant community that first arrived in Cuba... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3009616/chinatown-without-chinese-descendants-migrants-dream-return-glory-days?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3009616/chinatown-without-chinese-descendants-migrants-dream-return-glory-days?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 May 2019 19:39:48 +0000 Reuters,Associated Press Reuters,Associated Press Cuban Communist Party stalwart Miguel Diaz-Canel replaced Raul Castro as president on Thursday, drawing congratulations from China and Russia while the US expressed “disappointment”. The transition is not expected to herald sweeping changes to the island’s state-run economy and one-party system, one of the last in the world. Castro, 86, who took over from his ailing older brother Fidel in 2006, will retain considerable influence since he will remain head of the Communist Party until a congress... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2142500/cuba-swears-new-president-miguel-diaz-canel-replace-castro?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2142500/cuba-swears-new-president-miguel-diaz-canel-replace-castro?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:05:07 +0000 Reuters,Associated Press Reuters,Associated Press Cuba on Wednesday proposed First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel as sole candidate to replace Raul Castro as president, which will make him the island’s first non-Castro leader since the 1959 revolution.  The proposal is subject to a vote later in the day by the National Assembly and the result will be formally announced on Thursday. Such votes are usually unanimously or nearly unanimously ratified. The day-long process of selecting Castro’s successor was the centrepiece of an effort to ensure... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2142344/cuba-proposes-miguel-diaz-canel-next-president?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2142344/cuba-proposes-miguel-diaz-canel-next-president?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Apr 2018 17:09:01 +0000 The eldest son of late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, committed suicide on Thursday aged 68 after being treated for months for depression, Cuban state-run media reported. The nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, had initially been hospitalised and then continued treatment as an outpatient. “Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2131706/fidel-castros-eldest-son-nuclear-scientist-fidelito-castro-diaz?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2131706/fidel-castros-eldest-son-nuclear-scientist-fidelito-castro-diaz?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Feb 2018 05:19:59 +0000 Reuters Reuters Fidel Castro’s ashes were laid to rest on Sunday, capping nine days of official mourning when hundreds of thousands of Cubans said farewell with a combination of tears, Castro-like defiance and choruses of “I am Fidel!” ringing out across the island. A private ceremony was held at Santiago’s Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, state media reported. Castro’s cremated remains were due to be placed a few steps from the mausoleum of independence hero Jose Marti, another towering figure of Cuban history who... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2051640/fidel-castro-laid-rest-cuba-ending-nine-days-mourning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2051640/fidel-castro-laid-rest-cuba-ending-nine-days-mourning?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Dec 2016 14:52:12 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Mobsters, poisoned cigars, exploding seashells, a contaminated diving suit: the CIA’s imagination ran wild in its plots to assassinate Fidel Castro. As the late Cuban leader’s ashes are laid to rest in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba on Sunday, his cause of death remains a closely-guarded state secret. Castro claimed he was the target of some 600 assassination plots, but it appears likely that it was simply old age that finally felled the death-defying communist leader. He was 90 and no... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2051569/killing-castro-cia-plots-take-out-cuban-leader-poisoned-cigars?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2051569/killing-castro-cia-plots-take-out-cuban-leader-poisoned-cigars?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Dec 2016 05:39:57 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse A military jeep took the ashes of Fidel Castro on a four-day journey across Cuba on Wednesday, with islanders lining the roads to bid farewell to the late communist icon. Seeing the ashes hurts your heart. I have cried for me and for my parents who were also revolutionaries Orieta Cantero, retired philosophy professor After two days of tributes to Castro in Cuba’s capital, the “caravan of freedom” departed Havana in the morning for a 950km trek, back on the route of his revolution’s victory tour... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2050822/ashes-fidel-castro-make-final-four-day-trip-across-cuba?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2050822/ashes-fidel-castro-make-final-four-day-trip-across-cuba?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Dec 2016 09:22:48 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Tourists looking to drink daiquiris at El Floridita, a favourite haunt of legendary US author Ernest Hemingway in Havana, found the entrance gated shut. It’s a historic moment that you’ll remember. In a few years, we’ll be able to say that we were here Tourist Vicente Pavon Others hoping to eat dinner while watching a music and dance show at El Guajirito restaurant stared at an empty stage with a closed curtain. As Cuba observes nine days of mourning following the death of communist icon Fidel... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2050475/no-music-or-rum-tourists-cuba-after-fidel-castros-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2050475/no-music-or-rum-tourists-cuba-after-fidel-castros-death?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Nov 2016 10:09:58 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse A steady stream of Cubans paid homage to late communist icon Fidel Castro again on Tuesday as Latin American and African presidents joined them for commemorations shunned by several world leaders. Encouraged by the government, grieving islanders lined up for a second day at Havana’s Revolution Square to view a memorial to the man who ruled the island for nearly half a century. He was not just your leader. He was our leader and the leader of all revolutionaries Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2050326/thousands-cubans-joined-world-leaders-pay-tribute-fidel-castro?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2050326/thousands-cubans-joined-world-leaders-pay-tribute-fidel-castro?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Nov 2016 23:45:30 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Fidel Castro changed the flavour of the milk Cuban children drink at breakfast. He filled Cuban kitchens with energy-saving rice cookers, and he gave a two-hour lesson in their use live on national television. He even changed the nation’s light bulbs, launching a nationwide campaign to replace incandescent bulbs with fluorescents that cast a pallid white light in Cuban homes to this day. Castro, who died on Friday at age 90, gained global stature with grand visions: confronting the US; building... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2050039/chocolate-milk-light-bulbs-how-fidel-castro-reshaped-life-cuba?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2050039/chocolate-milk-light-bulbs-how-fidel-castro-reshaped-life-cuba?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Nov 2016 09:04:21 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Hundreds of thousands of Cubans flocked to Havana’s iconic Revolution Square in a tearful and nostalgic tribute to Fidel Castro on Monday, launching a week-long farewell to the divisive cold war icon. Long lines of mourners entered the towering monument to independence hero Jose Marti, filing past a black-and-white picture of “El Comandante” as a young, black-bearded revolutionary carrying a rifle. Watch: A look back on the life of Fidel Castro He’s the father of all Cubans. My dad was my dad,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049988/he-gave-me-everything-cubans-begin-tearful-farewell-fidel-castro?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049988/he-gave-me-everything-cubans-begin-tearful-farewell-fidel-castro?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Nov 2016 00:05:49 +0000 Reuters Reuters Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will not attend the funeral of Fidel Castro, his office said on Monday, days after Trudeau’s warm comments about the late Cuban leader sparked a backlash. Trudeau referred on Saturday to Castro as a “remarkable leader” and expressed his sorrow at the death of “Cuba’s longest serving president.” Trudeau acknowledged on Sunday that Castro had been a dictator as political opponents called on him to boycott the funeral. Outrage and mockery about Trudeau’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049963/canadian-pm-trudeau-skip-funeral-fidel-castro-after-firestorm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049963/canadian-pm-trudeau-skip-funeral-fidel-castro-after-firestorm?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Nov 2016 21:45:30 +0000 Can a statement be factual and still be disingenuous and morally reprehensible? Yes, it can. Just read Donald Trump’s statement on the death of Fidel Castro. The US president-elect tweeted: “[A] brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades, Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.” Few people would deny Castro was a dictator. But it’s hard to see how he was any worse than those countless... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2049896/fidel-castros-death-reminder-american-brutality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2049896/fidel-castros-death-reminder-american-brutality?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Nov 2016 17:13:20 +0000 SCMP Editorial SCMP Editorial The cold war divided the world into communist and anti-communist, right and wrong, heroes and villains. Fidel Castro and Cuba, the speck of a Caribbean island he ruled for half a century, was for many people at the centre, casting an outsized ideological shadow. Yet even when that era ended with China embracing a market economy, the Berlin Wall falling and Castro’s staunch ally, the Soviet Union, collapsing, he still clung to his beliefs and sought confrontation, no matter how much Cubans... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2049893/castros-death-cuba-and-us-should-work-mend-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2049893/castros-death-cuba-and-us-should-work-mend-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Nov 2016 16:48:41 +0000 US airlines will launch regularly scheduled commercial flights to Havana on Monday, just in time for the start of funeral services for the island’s former leader Fidel Castro. Castro, who controlled the communist island for more than five decades in part by railing against America’s capitalist ideals, died Friday. In his final years, the ageing, retired Castro was forced to watch as his brother, Raúl, re-established diplomatic relations with the US and welcomed President Obama to the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049764/new-us-flights-havana-coincide-fidel-castro-funeral?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049764/new-us-flights-havana-coincide-fidel-castro-funeral?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Nov 2016 07:45:36 +0000 Elian Gonzalez, the boy who found himself at the centre of a controversial custody battle between his father in Cuba and his relatives in the United States 16 years ago, praised Fidel Castro, who, he said, made it possible for him to return to his home country. Gonzalez appeared on a government-run television programme on Sunday and said Castro, who died on Friday at the age of 90, was like a father and a friend to him. Watch: A look back on the life of Fidel Castro Tear-gas fired at... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049719/castaway-elian-gonzalez-saw-castro-father-figure?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049719/castaway-elian-gonzalez-saw-castro-father-figure?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Nov 2016 03:48:30 +0000 For the nearly five decades Fidel Castro ruled this country, he was a daily presence in Cubans’ lives. His speeches echoed on their televisions and his stern rules shaped almost every aspect of their existence. They woke up Saturday and found out he was gone. A numbness has set in here since. Few Cubans seemed to believe the death of Castro at age 90 will bring immediate transformation of their country, the only one-party state in the Western Hemisphere. After all, poor health forced Castro... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049580/country-molded-castro-wonders-what-comes-next?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049580/country-molded-castro-wonders-what-comes-next?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Nov 2016 08:30:00 +0000 Within half-an-hour of the Cuban government’s official announcement that former president Fidel ­Castro had died, Miami’s Little Havana teemed with life – and cheers. Thousands of people banged pots with spoons, waved Cuban flags in the air and whooped in jubilation on Calle Ocho – 8th Street, and the heart of the neighbourhood. Honking and strains of salsa music from car stereos echoed against stucco buildings, and fireworks lit up the humid night sky. I don’t celebrate. Nobody does. You can’t... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049469/miami-havana-fidel-castros-death-evokes-mixture-celebration?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049469/miami-havana-fidel-castros-death-evokes-mixture-celebration?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Nov 2016 12:41:44 +0000 Fidel Castro’s rule of nearly five decades split many a Cuban family between exile and solidarity with the communist revolution – including his own. While brother Raul was his closest confidant and successor as president, sister Juana, exiled in south Florida, called Fidel a “monster” to whom she hadn’t spoken in more than four decades. Eldest son Fidelito, long Castro’s only officially recognised child, was a nuclear scientist in Cuba. Eldest daughter Alina Fernandez, born from an affair with a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049443/castro-clan-torn-dysfunction-and-disagreements?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049443/castro-clan-torn-dysfunction-and-disagreements?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Nov 2016 08:22:36 +0000 No street bears his name and there is not a single statue in his honour but Fidel Castro did not want or need that type of recognition. From tip to tip, he made Cuba his living, breathing creation. Children in red neckerchiefs scampering to free schools, families rationing toilet paper in dilapidated houses, pensioners enjoying free medical treatment, newspapers filled with monotonous state propaganda: all in some way bear the stamp of one man. Watch: A look back on the life of Fidel... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049436/fidel-castros-legacy-how-revolutionary-inspired-and-appalled?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049436/fidel-castros-legacy-how-revolutionary-inspired-and-appalled?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Nov 2016 06:45:30 +0000 Cuba’s Fidel Castro, who seized power in Cuba in a 1959 revolution and transformed the country into a communist state while ruling for five decades has died, Cuban television said on Saturday. He was 90. Here are some of his more memorable quotes about himself and communism in Cuba: ● “Condemn me. It is of no importance. History will absolve me.” – Castro in 1953, when the young lawyer was defending himself at trial for his near-suicidal assault on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/2049433/history-will-absolve-me-fidel-castro-his-own-words?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/2049433/history-will-absolve-me-fidel-castro-his-own-words?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Nov 2016 06:05:32 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Former President Fidel Castro, who led a rebel army to improbable victory in Cuba, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 US presidents during his half century rule, has died at age 90. Castro’s reign over the island-nation 90 miles from Florida was marked by the US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The bearded revolutionary, who survived a crippling US trade embargo as well as... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049432/cuban-revolutionary-leader-fidel-castro-dies-aged-80?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2049432/cuban-revolutionary-leader-fidel-castro-dies-aged-80?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Nov 2016 05:30:45 +0000 Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro delivered a valedictory speech Tuesday to the Communist Party that he put in power a half-century ago, telling party members he is nearing the end of his life and exhorting them to help his ideas survive. “I’ll be 90 years old soon,” Castro said in his most extensive public appearance in years. “Soon I’ll be like all the others. The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban Communists will remain as proof on this planet that if they are... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/1937325/fidel-castro-says-hes-nearing-end-his-life-brother-raul-retains?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/1937325/fidel-castro-says-hes-nearing-end-his-life-brother-raul-retains?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Apr 2016 04:30:30 +0000 Ramon Castro, a lifelong rancher and farmer who bore a strong physical resemblance to younger brother Fidel Castro, has died, Cuban state media announced Tuesday. He was 91. Widely known by his nickname “Mongo”. the white-bearded Ramon Castro preferred tending crops and livestock to the revolutionary political life embraced by his younger siblings Fidel and Raul, who replaced Fidel as Cuba’s president in February 2008. Two years older than Fidel, Ramon was long used to getting double-takes from... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1916147/fidel-castros-lookalike-elder-brother-ramon-mongo-castro-dies-age-91?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1916147/fidel-castros-lookalike-elder-brother-ramon-mongo-castro-dies-age-91?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Feb 2016 05:30:15 +0000 AFP,Reuters AFP,Reuters Cuban state media released the first photographs of former president Fidel Castro to be published in nearly six months last night in a bid to quiet rumours that his health is failing. The images showed the 88-year-old Castro at his home along with his wife Dalia during a meeting with the leader of a students’ union, and were published in the state-run newspaper Granma and other official media. The article accompanying the photos said the meeting took place January 23. Castro looks slightly... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1700331/cuba-publishes-photos-hunched-lively-fidel-castro-silence-health-rumours?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1700331/cuba-publishes-photos-hunched-lively-fidel-castro-silence-health-rumours?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Feb 2015 07:30:00 +0000 Fidel Castro has been awarded China's version of the Nobel Peace Prize. The former Cuban leader beat more than 20 nominees including South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional group led by Moscow and Beijing, to win this year's Confucius Peace Prize, the mainland's state-run Global Times reported. The Cuban revolutionary was selected by nine judges out of a group of 16 experts and scholars. "While in office,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1660341/fidel-castro-wins-chinas-confucius-peace-prize?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1660341/fidel-castro-wins-chinas-confucius-peace-prize?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Dec 2014 09:00:15 +0000