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President of Cuba meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican

President of Cuba meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican
Photo: @DiazCanelB

June 20 |

Pope Francis received this Tuesday at the Holy See the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who is on a tour of several European countries, where they discussed issues on the bilateral and international agenda.

According to a Vatican communiqué, during the talks at the Secretariat of State “the importance of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Cuba was discussed, evoking the historic visit of St. John Paul II in 1998, of which it is the 25th anniversary”.

The note continues that during the meeting they discussed the situation in Cuba, the contribution offered by the Church, “especially in the field of charity”, as well as “some international issues of mutual interest and underlined the importance of maintaining the commitment to always promote the common good”.

According to the Vatican press service, the private audience held in the room adjacent to the Paul VI Hall lasted a little more than 30 minutes after Francis expressed to the Cuban leader “I am delighted to see you here, I am delighted that you have come”.

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For his part, Díaz-Canel affirmed that he had a “frank” conversation with Pope Francis during their 40-minute meeting on Tuesday at the Vatican.

“It was a frank conversation. We confirmed broad coincidences on pressing issues of the international agenda for humanity,” Díaz-Canel wrote on Twitter, where the Cuban presidency disseminated images of the meeting.

The Cuban president added that it was “pleasant” to meet again with the pontiff – whom he had already met during Francis’ visit to the island in 2015 – to whom he conveyed “the deep affection and wishes for the full recovery of the Cuban people.”

Later, Diaz-Canel met with His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, accompanied by Monsignor Daniel Pacho, Undersecretary for the Multilateral Sector of the Section for Relations with States and International Organizations.

The Cuban head of state arrived at 10:00 a.m. (local time) at the Vatican headquarters where he was received by the head of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza.

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Although this is the fourth meeting between Diaz-Canel and His Holiness, it is the first as president and he is the third Cuban leader to travel to the Vatican since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

In line with the presidential agenda, the Cuban leader will meet this same day with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as part of his official visit to Italy as part of his international tour of Europe.

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Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.

“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.

The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.

“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”

“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.

Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.

Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.

The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.

In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.

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Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.

Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.

Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.

In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.

The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.

Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.

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Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people

At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.

“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.

Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”

The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.

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