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Castro praises Pope’s anti-capitalism stance

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By ROBERT KING • 9/19/15 4:29 PM

Pope Francis has arrived in Havana this afternoon and starts a historic 10-day visit to Cuba and the United States, according to reports.

Cuban President Raul Castro welcomed Pope Francis in a long speech at the airport. In his speech, Castro said the communist government has “founded an equitable society with social justice” in Cuba and he praised the pope’s critiques of the global economic system that has “globalized capital and turned money into its idol.”

Castro thanked the pope for facilitating negotiations that led to a detente between the United States and Cuba. Castro is also calling for the end of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, which he called “cruel, immoral and illegal,” and the return of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Castro praised his country’s socialist model for building a society “focused on human beings and the family” and said he’s “firmly determined to … build a just and virtuous society with high ethical and spiritual values.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/castro-praises-popes-stance-on-capitalism/article/2572475

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Obama right at home with Anti-US Summit of the Americas

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OBAMA-CASTRO MEETING OVERSHADOWS ANTI-US LINE AT SUMMIT
BY JOSHUA GOODMAN AND PETER ORSI
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PANAMA CITY (AP) — As usual when Latin America’s leftist leaders get together with U.S. officials, there were plenty of swipes at the U.S. during the seventh Summit of the Americas.

From 19th century territorial raids on Mexico to U.S. support for the overthrow of Chile’s socialist government in 1973 and the 1989 invasion of Panama that removed Gen. Manuel Noriega, Washington’s interventions in Latin America were targets of rebuke during long speeches by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his allies. That prompted President Barack Obama to retort, “I always enjoy the history lessons that I receive when I’m here.”

But the historic meeting between Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on Saturday before the summit closed provides the U.S. and Latin America with an opportunity to move beyond a history of grievances and mistrust and set a course of closer cooperation.

There were concerns in the run-up that recent U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan officials could undermine the goodwill generated by Obama’s decision to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba, but they proved unfounded.

The conciliatory tone was set by Castro, who joked that since Cuba had been barred from the previous summits he was entitled to speak well beyond the eight minutes allotted to each of the 30-plus heads of state in attendance.

https://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AMERICAS_SUMMIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-12-00-04-55

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Wall Street Journal: Castros Smelled Obama’s Weakness and Pounced

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Monday, 06 Apr 2015 01:44 PM
By Jennifer G. Hickey

As a consequence of President Barack Obama’s decision to chart a new course in U.S.-Cuban relations, Cuban dictator Raul Castro will attend this week’s Summit of the Americas with the upper hand and an opportunity to set the regional agenda, says Wall Street Journal columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady.

“Repression is on the march in the Americas, and U.S. ambivalence is part of the problem. In the White House’s lack of moral clarity, the region’s bullies smell weakness. One result is that a Caribbean backwater run by gangster brothers now has the upper hand in setting the regional agenda,” writes O’Grady.

For the first time, Cuba was invited and chose not to boycott the event, which O’Grady says is a sign of how much damage the Obama administration has done to the cause of democracy in the region.

“Being outcasts made Raúl and Fidel Castro feel disrespected. So they pressured much of the rest of the region to say that if Cuba were again left out, they would boycott the event. In December Mr. Obama folded. It was a sign of how bad things are in the Americas. Authoritarian governments now rule in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Venezuela, Ecuador,

Evidence of Cuba’s anti-democratic actions was seen on Sunday when dissident Rosa Maria Paya was arrested on Sunday night at the airport in Panama, according to The London Telegraph.

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Cuba-Raul-Castro-Americas-summit/2015/04/06/id/636706/#ixzz3WZFidlZe

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Clara Nibot Cuban-American anti Castro Republican Activist Dies

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Clara Nibot Cuban-American anti Castro Republican Activist Dies
Tuesday, May 21, 2014

Clara Nibot, a Cuban-American Republican activist and a former president of the Bergen County Hispanic Republican Club, died yesterday. She was from Bergenfield.

“She was an activist and very much involved in Republican Party politics until she got sick but until she got sick you could always count on her to be there and she will be sorely missed,” said Bergen County GOP Chairman Bob Yudin.

Ms. Nibot challenged Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37) in the 2007 general election.

Fernando Alonso, the current President of the Bergen County Hispanic Republican Club described Ms. Nibot as a Cuban  anti-Castro dissident who helped many young Republicans. “Including me, many years ago,” Alonso said. “She was a good, kind, wise woman.”

In an interview which appeared in the Record in January of 2011, Clara was quoted as having arrived in the US in 1961 from Cuba as a tourist.  She never returned to Cuba or saw her father, a doctor, who was not permitted to leave Cuba.

She was an outspoken advocate for her people and often pointed out the human rights violations so many continue to endure there.  “… But there are still human rights violations and people are being put in jail and persecuted because they believe in free speech,” Nibot said in 2011. “No one is holding him [Castro] accountable.”

Clara was born in Havana, Cuba. She lived in Irvington before moving to Bergenfield 43 years ago.  She was a Systems Analyst for Mason Tenders District Trust Fund, New York City for 30 years, prior to retiring in 2004.

Clara was the beloved wife of the late Jose Nibot who died in 2005, the devoted mother of Ismael (Caroline) Nibot and Sylvia Claffey, and loving sister of Alicia Burt. She will be sadly missed by her cherished granddaughters, Olivia and Megan Nibot.

The family will welcome friends Thursday, 6 to 9 p.m. onThursday, May 22nd at the French Funeral Home, 161 Washington Avenue in Dumont.

Funeral mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. at St. John’s R.C. Church, 29 North Washington Ave, Bergenfield.

Internment at George Washington Memorial Park, Paramus.