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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 6 (Prensa Latina) Cuba will not surrender, President Miguel Díaz-Canel assured today during an emotional meeting here with the solidarity movement with the island in Brazil, in the context of the XVII Brics Summit.

In a crowded room of a Rio de Janeiro hotel and visibly moved, Díaz-Canel began his remarks with a sincere thank you.

"We want to begin by deeply thanking you for all the solidarity you have given us. The campaigns, the donations, the accompaniment, the altruistic gesture", he said, recognizing the multiple actions of support of the Brazilian people in the face of the difficulties in his country.

Then he paused and, with a firm voice, expressed: "And now we are going to talk a little about Cuba and the conditions in which we are living, but also about the lights to overcome the problems. Because what you can be sure of, you, who are friends of the real society, is that Cuba is not going to surrender", he stressed.

The Cuban leader once again denounced the U.S. blockade, its extraterritorial nature and its intensification under the last administrations. “More than 80 percent of our population has lived all its life under this siege,” he recalled.

He also explained with political courage the causes of the collapse of the electro-energy system, with serious effects on the daily life of Cubans and economic development.

“We are hurt by the suffering of our people, but we also have the conviction that we are going to move forward,” he said.

At that point, he stressed that solidarity not only comforts, but also commits. "We cannot give up because of convictions, and we cannot give up because it would be disrespectful to you. The solidarity that you give us also commits us a lot," he stressed.

Later, in another meeting with Brazilian intellectuals, Díaz-Canel addressed cultural and political issues, and denounced the effects of cultural colonization.

He criticized the entertainment platforms that impose distorted views of reality on social networks. He called to face this offensive with unity in diversity.

He also announced an upcoming meeting with political communicators and mentioned the Colloquium Patria, as a space to think and articulate new forms of emancipating communication.

Looking to the future, he announced that next year the centenary of the birth of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, will be commemorated with a program of activities focused on the validity of his thought.

He reiterated the concept of “creative resistance”, which, he said, is based on pillars such as popular participation and national unity. “Our people will not be defeated,” he insisted.

Thus, with firmness and closeness, Díaz-Canel closed both meetings marked by emotion, commitment and the conviction that, although besieged, Cuba does not surrender.

La Paz, Jul 2 (Prensa Latina) Bolivians support today the rejection expressed by President Luis Arce to a memorandum of the chief executive of the United States, Donald Trump, aimed at strengthening the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.

“We join the request of the majority of the countries of the world, expressed on repeated occasions in the United Nations General Assembly and which the United States does not consider, which demand the immediate and unconditional lifting of the blockade (...)”, Arce wrote on social networks.

Referring to the memorandum, the South American head of state criticizes that it represents a new act of aggression against the Cuban people and government in what constitutes an explicit disregard for the principles of self-determination of peoples and non-interference.

The President adds that this document “(...) reinforces the violation of the human rights of a population that has resisted for more than six decades a criminal and obsolete economic, financial and commercial blockade by Yankee imperialism”.

“(...) All our solidarity with brother president @DiazCanelB and the brave people of Cuba,” concluded the Bolivian dignitary in his X account.

Referring to the issue in the newspaper El Mamoré, journalist Marco Santivañez, warns that Trump's new reprisals, including banning his fellow citizens from traveling to Cuba, constitute not only an inhumane act, but deeply cynical because it deepens the blockade.

“It is a policy of strangulation, of systematic asphyxiation, typical of the most rancid fascism (...)”, expresses the director of that press outlet.

He adds that Cuba is not alone because it does not kneel and resists.

He points out that this “criminal encirclement” will last for a long time.

Referring to the issue in the newspaper El Mamoré, journalist Marco Santivañez warns that Trump's new reprisals, which include the prohibition of his fellow citizens from traveling to Cuba, constitute not only an inhumane act, but also a deeply cynical one because it deepens the blockade.

“It is a policy of strangulation, of systematic asphyxiation, typical of the most rancid fascism (...)”, expresses the director of that press outlet.

He adds that Cuba is not alone because it does not kneel and resists.

He points out that this “criminal encirclement” has lasted for 60 years and includes years of deprivations, isolation attempts, dirty campaigns, blockades to medicines, technology and trade.

However, he maintains, Cuba is still there. Not as a nation that has been bent, but as a beacon of dignity for Latin America and the world.

Santiváñez points out that Trump's new tightening of the blockade is nothing more than the deepening of an economic war declared against a sovereign country.

“(...) And what is Cuba's crime? What crime justifies these measures? Is it being in solidarity? Is it having doctors in the most forgotten corners of the world? Is it not surrendering?” he asks.

He warns that the people do not forget that in the hardest hours, when the great centers of power hide vaccines, medicines, Cuban doctors arrive with their white coats to offer the only thing they have: life.

"Cuba does not give what it has to spare, it gives what it has. Cuba shares without calculation, without usury, without demands. And that profoundly human, profoundly revolutionary generosity is what the empire will never be able to understand," the letter concludes.

Discontent with federal policies has sparked separatist sentiments in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. On Monday, Probe Research released a poll showing that 22% of Manitoba residents would vote in favor of separating from Canada if an independence referendum were held.

Conducted with interviews of 1,000 people and a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, the survey indicates that up to 70% would vote to remain in Canada. It also reveals that support for separation is strongest in rural areas and among conservative voters.

The results reflect a similar trend in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In these western Canadian provinces, separatist sentiment has grown in recent years, particularly among conservatives frustrated with federal government policies.

That frustration intensified after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won the April 28 election, causing disappointment among conservatives who have been out of power since 2015.

Currently, Alberta — one of Canada’s wealthiest provinces and the source of 84% of the country’s oil production — is the epicenter of the separatist movement. A poll published in late May indicated that 30% of Alberta residents support independence, up four points from 2021.

In fact, Alberta now shows significantly stronger support for separatism than Quebec did when it held independence referendums in 1980 and 1995. This sentiment is growing amid accusations that the federal government is sacrificing Alberta’s prosperity in favor of Ontario and Quebec.

Alberta’s separatist movement plans to hold a referendum in 2026. In May, it unveiled the proposed question for the vote: “Do you agree that the province should become a sovereign country and cease to be a province of Canada?”

The proposal gained momentum after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a conservative, moved to lower the requirements for holding referendums and announced she would not oppose its organization. Ahead of the April 28 election, Smith voiced her opposition to a potential Liberal victory and has since justified the western provinces’ frustration following Carney’s win.