Cuba

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared Jamaica a “disaster area” after Hurricane Melissa barrelled across the Caribbean island as one of the most powerful storms on record, leaving behind a trail of devastation.

The hurricane – which made landfall as a Category 5 storm on Tuesday – ripped off the roofs of homes, inundated the nation’s “bread basket”, and felled power lines and trees, leaving most of its 2.8 million people without electricity.

Melissa took hours to cross over Jamaica, a passage over land that diminished its winds, dropping it down to a Category 3 storm, before it ramped back up as it continued on Wednesday towards Cuba.

Holness said in a series of posts on X that the storm has “ravaged” his country and the disaster declaration gives his government “tools to continue managing” its response to the storm.

“It is clear that where the eye of the hurricane hit, there would be devastating impact,” he told the United States news channel CNN late on Tuesday. “Reports we have had so far include damage to hospitals, significant damage to residential property, housing and commercial property as well, and damage to our road infrastructure.”

Holness said he does not have any confirmed reports of deaths at the moment. “But with a Category 5 hurricane, … we are expecting some loss of life,” he added.

The prime minister said his government was mobilising quickly to start relief and recovery efforts by Wednesday morning.

Even before Melissa slammed into Jamaica, seven deaths – three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic – were caused by the hurricane.

Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s local government minister, told reporters on Tuesday evening that the storm had caused damage across almost every parish in the country and left most of the island without electricity.

He said the storm had put the parish of St Elizabeth, the country’s main agricultural region, “under water”.

“The damage to St Elizabeth is extensive, based on what we have seen,” the minister said, adding that “almost every parish is experiencing blocked roads, fallen trees and utility poles, and excess flooding in many communities.”

“Work is presently on the way to restore our service, to give priorities to the critical facilities, such as hospitals and water and pumping stations,” he added.

The storm caused “significant damage” to at least four hospitals, Health and Wellness Minister Christopher Tufton told the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.

A roof was completely torn off a building at a section of the Savanna La Mar Public General Hospital due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa. The system made landfall earlier today near New Hope district in Westmoreland, Jamaica. #GLNRToday #TrackingMelissa pic.twitter.com/zBnm9bu4Oq

— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) October 28, 2025

‘Monstrous Melissa’

Robian Williams, a journalist with the Nationwide News Network radio broadcaster in Kingston, told Al Jazeera that the storm was the “worst we’ve ever experienced”.

“It’s truly heartbreaking, devastating,” she said from the capital.

“We’re calling Hurricane Melissa ‘Monstrous Melissa’ here in Jamaica because that’s how powerful she was. … The devastation is widespread, mostly being felt and still being felt in the western ends of the country at this point in time. So many homes, so many people have been displaced,” she said.

“We did prepare, but there wasn’t much that we could have done.”

Trout Hall Rd, Clarendon#TrackingMelissa #HurricaneMelissa #Jamaica @CVMTV pic.twitter.com/bTop93pOvp

— Giovanni R. Dennis (@GiovanniRDennis) October 28, 2025

In Kingston, Lisa Sangster, a 30-year-old communications specialist, said her home was devastated by the storm.

“My sister … explained that parts of our roof was blown off and other parts caved in and the entire house was flooded,” she told the AFP news agency. “Outside structures like our outdoor kitchen, dog kennel and farm animal pens were also gone, destroyed.”

Mathue Tapper, 31, told AFP that those in the capital were “lucky” but he feared for people in Jamaica’s more rural areas.

“My heart goes out to the folks living on the western end of the island,” he said.

Melissa restrengthens

The US National Hurricane Center warned on Tuesday night that Melissa was restrengthening as it approached eastern Cuba.

“Expected to make landfall there as an extremely dangerous major hurricane in the next few hours,” the centre warned at 11pm Cuba time on Tuesday (03:00 GMT on Wednesday).

Authorities in Cuba have evacuated more than 700,000 people, according to Granma, the official newspaper, and forecasters said the Category 4 storm would unleash catastrophic damage in Santiago de Cuba and nearby areas.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Holguin and Las Tunas as well as for the southeastern and central Bahamas. A hurricane watch was in effect for Bermuda.

The storm was expected to generate a storm surge of up to 3.6 metres (12ft) in the region and drop up to 51cm (20 inches) of rain in parts of eastern Cuba.

“There will be a lot of work to do. We know there will be a lot of damage,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a televised address in which he assured that “no one is left behind and no resources are spared to protect the lives of the population”.

At the same time, he urged Cubans not to underestimate the power of Hurricane Melissa, “the strongest ever to hit national territory”.

Climate change

Although Jamaica and Cuba are used to hurricanes, climate change is making the storms more severe.

British-Jamaican climate change activist and author Mikaela Loach said in a video shared on social media that Melissa “gained energy from the extremely and unnaturally hot seas in the Caribbean”.

“These sea temperatures are not natural,” Loach said. “They’re extremely hot because of the gasses that have resulted from burning fossil fuels.”

“Countries like Jamaica, countries that are most vulnerable to climate disaster are also countries that have had their wealth and resources stripped away from them through colonial bondage,” Loach added.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in September, Holness urged wealthy countries to increase climate financing to assist countries like Jamaica with adapting to the effects of a warming world.

“Climate change is not a distant threat or an academic consideration. It is a daily reality for small island developing states like Jamaica,” he said.

Jamaica is responsible for just 0.02 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming, according to data from the World Resources Institute.

But like other tropical islands, it is expected to continue to bear the brunt of worsening climate effects.

Oct. 28 (UPI) — Hurricane Melissa was regaining strength Tuesday night as it was taking aim at Cuba after battering Jamaica throughout the day, forecasters said.

The eye of Melissa was situated about 110 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, and 300 miles south of the central Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 p.m. EDT update. It was moving northeast at 9 mph.

Melissa had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, making it a Category 4 storm, and significantly weaker than the Category 5 storm when it hit Jamaica.

It had lost strength as it traveled over Jamaica’s western mountains, but forecasters said it appeared to be strengthening.

Melissa made landfall as a powerful major hurricane, the strongest direct hit on Jamaica since records have been kept in the Atlantic basin. It was also be the first storm to make landfall in the Caribbean this season.

Melissa is anticipated to make a second landfall along Cuba’s southeastern coast soon, while still maintaining major hurricane strength. It’s also expected to remain a hurricane when it reaches the Bahamas. Bermuda also could be threatened.

“Melissa is expected to continue to strengthen until it reaches Cuba in a few hours, and it is expected to make landfall there as a very dangerous major hurricane,” NHC forecaster John Cangialosi said in a late Tuesday discussion on the storm.

“Melissa is still expected to be a powerful hurricane when it moves through the Bahamas and near Bermuda.”

Catastrophic flash flooding and landslides in parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica were expected through early next week.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin; and the southeastern and central Bahamas.

A hurricane watch was in effect for Bermuda.

There was a tropical storm warning for Jamaica, Haiti, Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cuban province of Las Tunas.

Hurricane-force winds extended up to 30 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward to 195 miles.

Rainfall of 15 to 30 inches through Wednesday was forecast for portions of Jamaica and an additional 6 to 12 inches for southern Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Jamaica is to get a local maximum of 40 inches, the NHC said.

“Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely,” the NHC said.

Cuba is expected to receive rainfall of 10 to 20 inches, with local amounts up to 25 inches, into Wednesday, “resulting in life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding with numerous landslides,” the NHC said.

Over the southeastern Bahamas, rainfall is forecast to total 5 to 10 inches into Wednesday with flash flooding in some areas.

Life-threatening storm surge heights could reach 9 to 13 feet above ground level, near and to the east of where the center of Melissa makes landfall and are expected to be accompanied by large and destructive waves, NHC said.

Along the Cuban coast late Tuesday and Wednesday, there is a potential for a significant storm surge of 7 to 11 feet.

And in the southeastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands, there is the possibility of a storm surge of 4 to 6 feet.

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the season and fifth hurricane. The other Category 5 storms in the Atlantic have been Erin and Humberto.

In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and devastated the Bahamas islands, including Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, as a Category 5 storm.

The all-time highest sustained wind speed was Hurricane Allen at 190 mph in August 1980 over the Yucatan Peninsula before weakening to a Category 3 when it struck South Texas.

The most destructive Category 5 storm in the United States was Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, with $27.3 billion in damage. Hurricane Michael, also a Category 5 storm, struck the less populated Florida Panhandle in October 2018.

The United States is not threatened this time.

Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988 as a Category 3 storm.

Hurricane Melissa, which has been barrelling towards Jamaica, is expected to be the most powerful hurricane to ever make a direct hit on the island.

The hurricane intensified on Monday into a Category 5 storm, the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with wind speeds exceeding 252km/h (157mph). It was expected to make landfall on Tuesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the United States. It said the storm will cause “destructive winds” and “catastrophic flooding”, which it forecast to worsen throughout the day and night.

Jamaica’s Meteorological Service added: “Life-threatening storm surge, accompanied by large and destructive waves, is likely along the south coast of Jamaica late Monday through Tuesday morning.”

How did Hurricane Melissa form?

Melissa originated as a cluster of thunderstorms off the coast of West Africa. It travelled west and evolved into a depression. On October 21, it reached tropical storm status.

Over the weekend, Melissa became a Category 4 storm as it made its way west through the Caribbean Sea.

Melissa is the 13th hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. On average, the Atlantic basin experiences about seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes each year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US predicted an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season this year with 13 to 18 named storms.

This is the third Category 5 hurricane of the season after Hurricanes Erin and Humberto.

Authorities use the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale to classify storms. The scale divides hurricanes into five categories based on their sustained wind speeds.

The highest is Category 5, which means a storm that has a sustained wind speed of 252km/h (157mph) or higher. Category 5 storms usually bring “catastrophic damage”, according to the NHC.

How has Melissa progressed? When and where will it hit Jamaica?

In anticipation of the hurricane, residents in Jamaica have been told to protect their homes with sandbags and boards, and to stock up on essentials.

The NHC said hurricane-force winds will extend up to 45km (30 miles) from Melissa’s centre and tropical storm-force winds will extend up to 315km (195 miles) from it.

Here is how the storm has progressed so far:

Monday, 7am in Jamaica (12:00 GMT)

On Monday morning, Melissa was upgraded to a Category 5 hurricane as it moved northwest in the Caribbean.

Tuesday, 1am (06:00 GMT)

Melissa will likely make landfall soon after this time. The NHC said because the storm is moving slowly – at 8km/h (5mph) – it will cause more damage.

“This extreme rainfall potential, owing to the slow motion, is going to create a catastrophic event here for Jamaica,” NHC Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said.

Melissa is expected to bring rainfall of 381mm to 762mm (15 to 30 inches) to portions of Jamaica and additional rainfall of 203mm to 406mm (8 to 16 inches) for southern Hispaniola through Wednesday with rainfall totals of 1,016mm (40 inches) possible. Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely.

Wednesday, 1pm (18:00 GMT)

Melissa is forecast to pass over Cuba by Wednesday before moving through the Greater Antilles and out into the Atlantic.

It is predicted to weaken to Category 3 by the time it reaches Cuba.

What is the latest on the ground?

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said: “I know that there are many Jamaicans who are anxious, who are very concerned, and rightfully so. You should be concerned.

“But the best way to address anxiety and any nervousness and concern is to be prepared.”

Jamaica’s Meteorological Service has advised small craft operators and fishermen on the cays and banks to remain in safe harbour until wind and sea conditions return to normal

“Leaving the island before the hurricane arrives is not an option,” it said. The main airports – Kingston and Montego Bay – are closed. Kingston’s airport is warning: “Passengers, contact your airline for rebooking. DO NOT go to the airport.”

Warnings have also been put in place for parts of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba, where Melissa is expected to cause similar damage.

Jamaica’s history of hurricanes

According to the NHC, Jamaica has experienced only one Category 4 storm, Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. It was the most destructive storm in Jamaica’s history and killed at least 45 people.

In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy was the first to make landfall on the island since Gilbert. It hit as a Category 1 storm.

In 2024, Hurricane Beryl, a Category 5 storm, brushed the southern coast of Jamaica and caused heavy winds and rain and damaged buildings. It also caused the deaths of four people.

ONE European spot with 17C winter temperatures has been named among the top 25 places to visit in 2026.

The ancient port city of Cadiz, in Spain, is surrounded by the sea on three sides and is full of history dating back to the 16th century when the city was used as a base for exploration and trade.

Today visitors can still see more than 100 watchtowers across the city, which were used for spotting ships.

Naming the city one of the top 25 places to visit across the globe in 2026, Lonely Planet revealed that Cadiz is best for Carnaval, fine food and flamenco.

It stated: “Cádiz’s Carnaval is Spain’s biggest annual party, bringing extravagantly costumed revelers to its streets for 10 days of parades, fireworks, singing and dancing in February or March, to the accompaniment of more than 300 local murgas (bands).

“Pack a costume and book your accommodations months in advance or commute from nearby El Puerto de Santa María.”

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As for the city’s food scene, visitors will often find fresh seafood dishes and many restaurants serving traditional Andalusian tapas.

Typical dishes include tortillitas de camarones – crispy fritters made with tiny local shrimp.

One top restaurant in the city is Fogón De Mariana, which serves dishes that “tell stories of their orchards, fields, and pastures, bringing you slow-cooked moments”.

Alternatively, head to Mercado Central de Abastos which is Spain‘s oldest covered market.

Inside, you can grab some fresh produce or something to eat in the gourmet food court – Rincón Gastronómico.

As for things to do in the city, there is something for everyone.

If you venture to the waterfront, you will find the domed, 18th-century Cádiz Cathedral.

The cathedral is known for its mix of baroque and neoclassical architecture and it took more than a century to build.

Inside, you can explore a crypt, museum and climb the clock tower to see panoramic views of the city.

For another amazing viewpoint, head to Torre Tavira – one of the city’s watchtowers.

Inside is also a cámara oscura (dark room) which projects live images of some of the city’s top spots.

Then in El Pópulo – Cádiz’s oldest quarter – you will find a maze of narrow alleys and archways, dating back to the medieval period.

Many of the winding alleys boast cosy tapas bars and shops as well.

It is this area that led to the city earning the nickname of ‘Cuba of Europe‘, as the narrow streets look like Little Havana and much of the architecture resembles buildings in the Cuban capital.

The city has many places to stay including Hotel Playa Victoria Cádiz – a beachfront hotel with an outdoor pool and beach sun terrace.

It costs from around £80 per night.

Of course, the city is also home to golden beaches.

La Caleta is one top spot, with a number of bars nearby that come alive at night.

One recent visitor said: “It’s a great spot to grab some food and wine and watch the fisherman’s boats on the water.”

Or you could opt to bathe on Playa de Santa Maria del Mar, which is accessible from the centre of Cadiz.

The beach features two stone piers that give it a shell-like appearance and it also has great views of the city’s old quarter.

It is the ideal spot to enjoy a bottle of wine, costing as little as €1.45 (£1.26) for a bottle from a local supermarket.

Or you could head to one of the local bars, where a glass of wine will set you back around £2.18.

Temperatures during the winter reach highs of 17C and lows of 10C.

Some airlines offer seasonal routes to Jerez Airport, which is just under 27 miles from Cadiz.

Alternatively, there are year-round flights to Seville Airport.

In November, return flights to Seville from London cost £32, from Birmingham they cost £43 and from Edinburgh they cost £46.

Once in Seville, Cadiz is about an hour and 20-minute drive away.

Alternatively, you could jump on a train that takes about an hour and 25 minutes, costing from £15 each way.

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For another Spanish destination, you could head to a quaint Spanish town 30 minutes from Benidorm – it’s still warm in October and has £14 flights in half term.

Plus, Jet2 has launched new holidays to one of Spain’s cheapest cities known as the ‘Garden of Europe’.

Beyond the Cuban diaspora, the genre known as reparto is overwhelmingly unknown. But on the streets of Havana and Hialeah, Miami, reparto is inescapable, pulsing from balconies and portable speakers on the beach.

Born in Cuba’s working-class neighborhoods — known colloquially as repartos — this hyperkinetic fusion of reggaetón, timba and Afro-Cuban rhythms has become the island’s score. In the mid-2000s, artists like Chocolate MC and Elvis Manuel built the genre’s sound on distorted synth stabs, shouted call-and-response hooks, and the distinct Cuban clave beat that makes your body move before your brain can even catch up.

It’s also become a platform for youth navigating scarcity, surveillance and dreams of escaping poverty. The lyrics, characteristically and unapologetically obscene, reflect the realities of life in marginalized communities. But alongside its rhythmic bravado, reparto’s explicit language often veers into the dehumanizing and misogynistic.

The music centers on women, but more often than not, as objects: the perra to conquer, the diabla to tame, the culo to catalog in explicit detail. And it’s no surprise: The genre’s blunt portrayal of women mirrors the machismo deeply embedded in everyday Cuban life.

It’s a refrain you’re bound to hear in any and every nightclub: “¿Donde están las mujeres?” But the next time 10 reparteros link up for a track, they probably won’t call a woman. Within a genre that revolves so heavily around their bodies, women’s voices still remain rare.

So, ¿dónde están las mujeres? Or, where are the women making reparto?

“Chocolate is the king, but who is the queen?” says Seidy Carrera, known artistically as Seidy La Niña. “There’s a space that needs to be filled with women. There’s no f—ing women!”

At the onset of reparto, early reparteras like Melissa and Claudia slipped brief female cameos into club anthems. More than a decade later, due to Cuba’s only recent, and still extremely limited, internet access, these artists and their collaborations have a seemingly untraceable digital footprint. Still, most playlists orbit male voices, and collaborations rarely invite women to the booth: “When reparteros come together on a track, they never call a woman,” she says.

Carrera, 32, was born in the reparto El Cotorro and raised in Miami since she was 6. The self-proclaimed queen of reparto, the paradox defines her career: She fights for space in a scene whose appeal lies in her raw neighborhood realism, but detractors question her authenticity as a gringa, or as they would call her, yuma.

“I feel resistance every day, every single day,” she says. In response, she reclaims the discriminatory language used against her; onstage, she chants “más perra que bonita,” flipping the curse-word from insult to empowerment.

“It’s empowering to say, I’m more perra than pretty. To me, being a perra is being a woman who’s exclusive, who makes her own money. In my case, … nobody opened the door for me, nobody gave me a hand.”

For Havana-based singer-composer Melanie Santiler, 24, the double standard hits her before she can even sing her first note: “I feel that I have to do twice as well. I have to put in double the thought, double the effort, double the talent, always having something more to say,” she says.

“It’s exhausting. It’s exhausting being a woman, having to get up and tell yourself, damn, I have to look pretty and put together. I spent my whole life in school with an onion bun because I didn’t want to do my hair,” Santiler says and laughs, messy bun flopping around her face.

Reaching almost 5 million YouTube views on her 2025 viral collab, “Todo se Supera” with Velito el Bufón, she’s broken into the reparto space as one of the genre’s most distinctive voices. Beside this rise, she’s faced a newfound pressure to dress a way she normally wouldn’t, a beauty standard her masculine counterparts don’t face.

Aliaisys Alvarez Hernández — better known as Ozunaje — says she doesn’t face the same criticism in the urban Cuban music scene, likely due to her sexuality and more masculine appearance. “Reparto is a genre for men, that’s how I see it,” she says. “I dress like a man, I practically live my life like a man, so what I write resembles what men are already saying. That also gave me an impulse, where I feel like more feminine artists, they have to work harder.”

A former rhythmic gymnast from La Habana, Hernández, 23, stumbled into music when friends recorded her singing a demo of “Cosas del Amor” in her living room. Someone uploaded the video, it went viral, and suddenly, she had a career. Since that start, Hernández refuses to only be compared with other reparteras.

Her goal has always been to be measured against men, since “that’s who people actually listen to.” Dressing in traditionally masculine clothing, paired with a deep, raspy delivery, helps her lyrics resonate with locals without the extra hurdle of hyper-sexualized expectations.

Hernández’s androgynous wardrobe and open queerness bring another layer of potential discrimination, but despite the rampant homophobia persistent in present-day Cuba, she doesn’t feel much resistance. “The worst word they throw at me is tortillera, but it doesn’t affect me,” she says, adding, “People like my style, they like that I dress like a guy. Everybody tells me, you have tremendo flow, I love your aguaje, so I haven’t faced any bullying. Never.”

Misogynistic currents in reparto mirror those in early reggaetón, reflecting the average street machismo. The genre’s marginal roots complicate blanket condemnations, since the same raunchy lyrics often encode critiques of class exclusion. Still, reaching bigger stages will require editing the most gratuitous slurs, if only to broaden the music’s export potential. At least, Ozunaje thinks so.

“Reparto came from people who were poor, who had nothing, who were desperate to get out. Nobody imagined it would get this big. Now it’s reaching the whole world, so the vocabulary has to evolve,” she says.

Santiler echoes this critique. “It’s become really repetitive. I think right now, everyone is talking about the same thing. It’s been really easy. Facilista,” she says, using the Spanish term for taking the easy way out. Santiler loves reparto’s swing, but calls most of it objectifying, pointing to Bad Bunny’s “Andrea” and “Neverita,” along with C. Tangana’s “El Madrileño,” as proof that urban music can expand beyond bedroom conquests.

“The street already says these things, and reparto just writes it. It’s an image of what’s happening. But I grew up with other types of music and other types of references, so I’d like to expand beyond that, to make something fresh.”

Santiler adds that the basis of reparto, both in her gratitude and her criticism, comes from pride.

“I love Cuba, I love my country. The current generation of Cuba doesn’t reject their identity — they’re doing the opposite. They want to create a new culture, to create a new movement, and they want the world to know Cuba again,” she says.

In the early days of President Trump’s second term, the U.S. appeared keen to cooperate with Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian leader. Special envoy Ric Grenell met Maduro, working with him to coordinate deportation flights to Caracas, a prisoner exchange deal and an agreement allowing Chevron to drill Venezuelan oil.

Grenell told disappointed members of Venezuela’s opposition that Trump’s domestic goals took priority over efforts to promote democracy. “We’re not interested in regime change,” Grenell told the group, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

But Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of State, had a different vision.

In a parallel call with María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, two leaders of the opposition, Rubio affirmed U.S. support “for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela” and called González “the rightful president” of the beleaguered nation after Maduro rigged last year’s election in his favor.

Rubio, now also serving as national security advisor, has grown closer to Trump and crafted an aggressive new policy toward Maduro that has brought Venezuela and the United States to the brink of military confrontation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers to President Trump during a roundtable meeting at the White House on Oct. 8, 2025.

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

Grenell has been sidelined, two sources told The Times, as the U.S. conducts an unprecedented campaign of deadly strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats — and builds up military assets in the Caribbean. Trump said Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert action in the South American nation, and that strikes on land targets could be next.

“I think Venezuela is feeling the heat,” he said.

The pressure campaign marks a major victory for Rubio, the son of Cuban emigres and an unexpected power player in the administration who has managed to sway top leaders of the isolationist MAGA movement to his lifelong effort to topple Latin America’s leftist authoritarians.

“It’s very clear that Rubio has won,” said James B. Story, who served as ambassador to Venezuela under President Biden. “The administration is applying military pressure in the hope that somebody inside of the regime renders Maduro to justice, either by exiling him, sending him to the United States or sending him to his maker.”

In a recent public message to Trump, Maduro acknowledged that Rubio is now driving White House policy: “You have to be careful because Marco Rubio wants your hands stained with blood, with South American blood, Caribbean blood, Venezuelan blood,” Maduro said.

As a senator from Florida, Rubio represented exiles from three leftist autocracies — Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — and for years he has made it his mission to weaken their governments. He says his family could not return to Cuba after Fidel Castro’s revolution seven decades ago. He has long maintained that eliminating Maduro would deal a fatal blow to Cuba, whose economy has been buoyed by billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil in the face of punishing U.S. sanctions.

In 2019, Rubio pushed Trump to back Juan Guaidó, a Venezuelan opposition leader who sought unsuccessfully to topple Maduro.

Rubio later encouraged Trump to publicly support Machado, who was barred from the ballot in Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election, and who last week was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democracy efforts. González, who ran in Machado’s place, won the election, according to vote tallies gathered by the opposition, yet Maduro declared victory.

Rubio was convinced that only military might would bring change to Venezuela, which has been plunged into crisis under Maduro’s rule, with a quarter of the population fleeing poverty, violence and political repression.

But there was a hitch. Trump has repeatedly vowed to not intervene in the politics of other nations, telling a Middle Eastern audience in May that the U.S. “would no longer be giving you lectures on how to live.”

Denouncing decades of U.S. foreign policy, Trump complained that “the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand.”

To counter that sentiment, Rubio painted Maduro in a new light that he hoped would spark interest from Trump, who has been fixated on combating immigration, illegal drugs and Latin American cartels since his first presidential campaign.

Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, right, and opposition leader María Corina Machado greet supporters during a campaign rally in Valencia before the country’s presidential election in 2024.

(Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press)

Going after Maduro, Rubio argued, was not about promoting democracy or a change of governments. It was striking a drug kingpin fueling crime in American streets, an epidemic of American overdoses, and a flood of illegal migration to America’s borders.

Rubio tied Maduro to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang whose members the secretary of State says are “worse than Al Qaeda.”

“Venezuela is governed by a narco-trafficking organization that has empowered itself as a nation state,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing.

Meanwhile, prominent members of Venezuela’s opposition pushed the same message. “Maduro is the head of a narco-terrorist structure,” Machado told Fox News last month.

Security analysts and U.S. intelligence officials suggest that the links between Maduro and Tren de Aragua are overblown.

A declassified memo by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found no evidence of widespread cooperation between Maduro’s government and the gang. It also said Tren de Aragua does not pose a threat to the U.S.

The gang does not traffic fentanyl, and the Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that just 8% of cocaine that reaches the U.S. passes through Venezuelan territory.

Still, Rubio’s strategy appears to have worked.

In July, Trump declared that Tren de Aragua was a terrorist group led by Maduro — and then ordered the Pentagon to use military force against cartels that the U.S. government had labeled terrorists.

Trump deployed thousands of U.S. troops and a small armada of ships and warplanes to the Caribbean and has ordered strikes on five boats off the coast of Venezuela, resulting in 24 deaths. The administration says the victims were “narco-terrorists” but has provided no evidence.

Elliott Abrams, a veteran diplomat who served as special envoy to Venezuela in Trump’s first term, said he believes the White House will carry out limited strikes in Venezuela.

“I think the next step is that they’re going to hit something in Venezuela — and I don’t mean boots on the ground. That’s not Trump,” Abrams said. “It’s a strike, and then it’s over. That’s very low risk to the United States.”

He continued: “Now, would it be nice if that kind of activity spurred a colonel to lead a coup? Yeah, it would be nice. But the administration is never going to say that.”

Even if Trump refrains from a ground invasion, there are major risks.

“If it’s a war, then what is the war’s aim? Is it to overthrow Maduro? Is it more than Maduro? Is it to get a democratically elected president and a democratic regime in power?” said John Yoo, a professor of law at UC Berkeley, who served as a top legal advisor to the George W. Bush administration. “The American people will want to know what’s the end state, what’s the goal of all of this.”

“Whenever you have two militaries bristling that close together, there could be real action,” said Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at the think tank Chatham House. “Trump is trying to do this on the cheap. He’s hoping maybe he won’t have to commit. But it’s a slippery slope. This could draw the United States into a war.”

Sabatini and others added that even if the U.S. pressure drives out Maduro, what follows is far from certain.

Venezuela is dominated by a patchwork of guerrilla and paramilitary groups that have enriched themselves with gold smuggling, drug trafficking and other illicit activities. None have incentive to lay down arms.

And the country’s opposition is far from unified.

Machado, who dedicated her Nobel Prize to Trump in a clear effort to gain his support, says she is prepared to govern Venezuela. But there are others — both in exile and in Maduro’s administration — who would like to lead the country.

Machado supporter Juan Fernandez said anything would be better than maintaining the status quo.

“Some say we’re not prepared, that a transition would cause instability,” he said. “How can Maduro be the secure choice when 8 million Venezuelans have left, when there is no gasoline, political persecution and rampant inflation?”

Fernandez praised Rubio for pushing the Venezuela issue toward “an inflection point.”

What a difference, he said, to have a decision-maker in the White House with family roots in another country long oppressed by an authoritarian regime.

“He perfectly understands our situation,” Fernandez said. “And now he has one of the highest positions in the United States.”

Linthicum reported from Mexico City, Wilner from Dallas and Ceballos from Washington. Special correspondent Mery Mogollón in Caracas contributed to this report.

For many, Omara Portuondo is best known for her participation in the Buena Vista Social Club; but the nonagenarian has lived many lives before and after the formation of the internationally recognized Cuban group. The new PBS documentary, “Omara: Cuba’s Legendary Diva,” looks to reexamine and capture the beauty and the chaos of these other many lives.

Directed by Hugo Perez, the feature — which premieres Sept. 26 on your local PBS channel — tells Portuondo’s personal history not only through the lens of her Afro-Cuban heritage but also through the prism of a woman confronting the realities of Cuba’s longstanding political strife.

“It immediately occurred to me that I was being given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to work with a great artist in the twilight of their career — imagine taking a time machine and going back in time to work with Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday in their later years,” Perez said in a press release.

“When we began, Omara was in her late eighties, and still touring extensively around the world. Yet despite the fact that she was still selling out venues across the globe, she was confronting ageism from promoters and journalists who only wanted to write about her ‘final tour.’ I felt that there was an opportunity not just to create a portrait of an iconic artist but to document how she responded to age bias with verve and panache and not just a little sauciness. Never count a Cuban woman down and out.”

Born into a mixed-race family in Havana on Oct. 29, 1930, at a time when such relationships were considered taboo, Portuondo began gracing the stage at age 17 by joining the dance group of the famed Tropicana Club. As a member of Cuarteto d’Aida in the 1950s, she sang alongside Nat King Cole and toured the U.S. while also recording albums. From the late 1960s through the 1980s, Portuondo found continued success as a solo act and even ventured into the world of film and television.

Ever involved in the political events of the moment, she never shied away from performing songs dedicated to revolutionaries like Che Guevara. In 1974, the singer recorded an album dedicated to the U.S.-ousted Chilean socialist president Salvador Allende.

In the mid-1990s, Portuondo began traveling the world with the renowned Cuban musical ensemble, the Buena Vista Social Club. The band’s fame skyrocketed in 1999 after German filmmaker Wim Wenders made a documentary about the musicians titled “Buena Vista Social Club” that received numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award. At the heart of the film were moments when Portuondo’s talents jumped off the screen and worldwide audiences could see the power and history behind her artistry.

The story of the Buena Vista Social Club was turned into an eponymous musical in 2023, with Portuondo featured as one of the main characters. After the musical hit Broadway in 2025, Natalie Venetia Belcon — who portrayed Portuondo as part of the show’s original Broadway cast — won the Tony for featured actress in a musical at this year’s awards.

While, for many, Portuondo’s impact and star power emanates from all things Buena Vista Social Club, the new documentary spotlights how Portuondo has not slowed down her hustle at her advanced age as she continues touring worldwide. Included in the movie are interviews with musicians from across the globe, like Diego el Cigala, Roberto Fonseca and Arturo O’Farrill.

The film also captures some of Portuondo’s more recent performances, which reveal new depths of the singer’s soulfulness and power.

“I also wanted to make a film that would show her in performance today, spotlighting songs that would help carry us through the story of her life,” the movie’s director said. “When she sings about love, Omara plumbs the depths of heartbreak, and I could not imagine telling her story without seeing her singing these great songs.”

President Donald Trump has urged pregnant women to avoid taking Tylenol, pointing to an unproven claim that links the painkiller to autism.

Speaking from the Oval Office with Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump claimed that acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol – also known as paracetamol in most parts of the world –  was “no good” and should only be used in pregnancy when there’s a high fever.

He then outlined steps his administration would take to restrict the use of the drug during pregnancy, in comments laced with unproven – and, in some cases, false – claims.

Here is what he said, and what the facts say, about the drug, autism and whether Cuba, as Trump claimed at one point, does not have autism.

What did Trump announce?

Trump opened the event by calling autism a “horrible, horrible crisis”.

“The meteoric rise in autism is among the most alarming public health developments in history. There’s never been anything like this,” Trump said, even though experts point out that the data on autism only captures increased diagnoses – not necessarily a rise in the incidence of autism itself.

Trump then laid out his administration’s plans to tackle the “crisis”.

“First, effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of a – well, let’s see how we say that acetaminophen – is that OK? Which is basically commonly known as Tylenol during pregnancy, can be associated with a very increased risk of autism,” he said.

He went on to warn that Tylenol use during pregnancy should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

“So taking Tylenol is not good. All right. I’ll say it. It’s not good. For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. That’s, for instance, in cases of extremely high fever, that you feel you can’t tough it out. You can’t do it. I guess there’s that.”

Trump then shifted to his broader concerns about vaccines, arguing against combination shots – like the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella – even though they have been proven to be safe in multiple rounds of research.

He also questioned giving newborns the hepatitis B vaccine.

“Hepatitis B is sexually transmitted. There’s no reason to give a baby that’s almost just born, hepatitis B. So I would say, wait till the baby is 12 years old and formed and take hepatitis B.”

Finally, Trump repeated a claim that countries without Tylenol, like Cuba, have little or no autism – framing it as evidence.

“I mean, there’s a rumour, and I don’t know if it’s so or not, that Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol. And they have virtually no autism, OK. Tell me about that one.”

President Donald J. Trump, @SecKennedy, @DrOzCMS, @NIHDirector_Jay, & @DrMakaryFDA announce the Autism Action Plan.

Make America Healthy Again. pic.twitter.com/1inEvIecYU

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 22, 2025

As with Trump’s other claims at the event, his assertion about Cuba doesn’t stand up to scrutiny – as we’ll get to in a bit.

But first …

What is autism?

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a developmental condition that’s experienced by people in many different ways. In the United States, it’s recognised as a form of neurodivergence and disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), autism can shape how someone communicates, learns, and interacts with the world, often in ways that are simply different from most people.

Children diagnosed with autism can also have difficulties with social, emotional and communication skills. This can develop into traits that can affect interaction with others and difficulty in learning.

What causes autism?

Autism has been linked to a complex mix of genetic and developmental factors, and it looks different for every individual. Scientists have identified hundreds of genes that can play a role, either passed down from parents or appearing as new mutations during early brain development.

According to the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, certain environmental influences may increase autism risk, including:

• Advanced parental age
• Prenatal exposure to air pollution or certain pesticides
• Maternal obesity, diabetes or immune system disorders
• Extreme prematurity or very low birth weight
• Birth complications leading to periods of oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain.

Is autism on the rise in the US?

At first look, that’s what the numbers would suggest.

Figures from the CDC show that in 2022, 1 in 31 eight-year-old children were identified with autism in the US, up from 1 in 149 in 2000.

According to the CDC, the condition is also about three times more common in boys than in girls.

Globally, estimates vary. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2021 that about 1 in 127 people worldwide were living with autism. Similarly, a 2022 review of 71 studies found an average prevalence of about 1 percent.

These numbers have been cited by some, like supporters of US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, to argue that the US faces a particularly acute challenge with autism, and have been used to justify crackdowns on drugs like Tylenol.

But experts warn that the data might not necessarily agree with these assertions and the measures that the Trump administration is taking.

Why are the numbers going up?

First, say experts, comparing autism rates across countries is problematic because of differences in diagnostic practices, awareness and access to healthcare – all of which affect how prevalence is measured and reported.

The increased numbers in the US, they point out, only demonstrate a sharp rise in diagnoses – not necessarily a rise in the incidence of autism itself.

According to experts, there are two main factors behind the rise in autism diagnoses. First, the definition of autism has broadened as scientists have recognised its wide spectrum of traits and symptoms. This has led to updated diagnostic criteria and better screening tools.

At the same time, growing awareness has meant that more parents are seeking evaluations.

What about acetaminophen?

Acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol) is one of the most widely used over-the-counter pain relievers and fever reducers.

For more than a decade, researchers have studied whether acetaminophen use during pregnancy is linked to developmental disorders. Findings have been mixed: Some studies reported associations with autism, while a 2025 Mount Sinai review suggested evidence for broader neurodevelopmental risks.

But association is not the same as causation. The largest and most rigorous study to date, published in 2024, found no link between prenatal acetaminophen use and autism, ADHD, or other learning or developmental disorders. Experts note that the best-quality studies so far show no evidence of harm from acetaminophen.

According to the Autism Science Foundation, claims of a connection remain “limited, conflicting, and inconsistent”.

“The big reveal about autism was a total bust full of misinformation,” Arthur L Caplan, an American ethicist and professor of bioethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told Al Jazeera.

“There is no data to show Tylenol causes autism and lots of data to show that fever in pregnant women harms the fetus,” he added.

To be sure, even without a Tylenol-autism link, most doctors “will probably tell pregnant women they should always be careful about medication”, Catherine Lord, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA who specialises in autism, told Al Jazeera.

But those doctors will likely also caution women not to avoid taking medicines when they have a fever during pregnancy, she said. “They also need to realise that having a high fever or being in pain is not good for a growing baby, either, so they should consult their doctor,” she added.

Have there been other claims about what causes autism?

Over the years, autism has been wrongly linked to many supposed causes. The most notorious was the false vaccine-autism link from a 1998 study, now fully debunked. That study claimed an association between the MMR vaccine – the same one that Trump targeted on Monday – and autism. The Lancet, the highly respected British journal that published that study, retracted it 12 years later, in 2010.

Other debated factors include prenatal medications or antidepressants, environmental toxins, and diet, but the evidence is weak or inconsistent. Earlier, the discredited “refrigerator mother” theory blamed parents who were perceived to lack adequate emotional warmth with their children for higher risks of autism.

And finally, is it true, as Trump claims, that autism does not exist in Cuba?

It’s untrue – and if anything, Cuba undercuts Trump’s argument.

Cuba officially recognises autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are multiple specialised schools and paediatric clinics that provide diagnosis and therapy for children with autism.

In Cuba, acetaminophen is generally known as paracetamol and is sold in government pharmacies. In other words, it is very much available and used as in other parts of the world.

According to a 2022 study, Cuba had an autism incidence of about 2 to 4 per 10,000 children in some settings. While research on autism diagnoses in Cuba is much more limited than in the US, the data from the 2022 study shows a far lower rate of recognised cases than in the US – despite the presence of acetaminophen.

The island of 10 million’s worsening energy and economic crisis has led to a series of ‘frustrating’ grid collapses.

Another total electricity blackout has struck Cuba, the latest in a string of grid collapses that have rocked the island of 10 million over the past year.

The island-wide outage, which hit just after 9am local time on Wednesday, is believed to be linked to a malfunction at one of Cuba’s largest thermoelectric plants, the Ministry of Energy and Mines said.

The ministry said crews had been dispatched to build a microsystem capable of providing basic services, and were prioritising the return of electricity to essential sites such as hospitals and food production plants.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero also made an appearance on state TV at Cuba’s state-run power company, asking Cubans for their trust and promising that electricity would be restored gradually.

Cuba’s worsening economic and energy crisis has led to repeated daily blackouts and full grid outages. In March, a breakdown at a substation in the capital, Havana, led to rolling blackouts across the island, with three more blackouts occurring late last year.

Across Havana, traffic lights were down as people scurried around to buy groceries and basic goods before dark. Pumps supplying the capital’s apartments with water rely on electricity.

Havana resident Danai Hernandez told Al Jazeera she had left work to prepare her home for the blackout. “We just have to wait. There’s no other choice,” she said.

“We’re cooking with wood and charcoal, so we have to adjust our schedules,” resident Ernesto Gutierrez told Al Jazeera. “It’s complicated, stressful, and frustrating, too.”

Cuba’s energy supply crisis has deteriorated in recent years because of US sanctions, which prevent it from holding sufficient foreign currency to upgrade or repair fast-ageing plants that have been in use for more than three decades.

Havana has tried to fill the gap by renting floating Turkish power ships and installing Chinese-funded solar parks. Some wealthier families have installed rechargeable devices and solar panels in their homes.

Still, the blackouts have prompted rare protests, with crowds flooding the second-largest city of Santiago last year.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Five men deported by the United States to Eswatini in July have been held in a maximum-security prison in the African nation for seven weeks without charge or explanation and with no access to legal counsel, their lawyers said Tuesday.

They accused the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program of denying their clients due process.

The New York-based Legal Aid Society said that it was representing one of the men, Jamaican national Orville Etoria, and that he had been “inexplicably and illegally” sent to Eswatini when his home country was willing to accept him back.

That contradicted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which said when it deported the five men with criminal records that they were being sent to Eswatini because their home countries refused to take them. Jamaica’s foreign minister has also said that the Caribbean country didn’t refuse to take back deportees.

Etoria was the first of at least 20 deportees sent by the U.S. to various African nations in the last two months to be identified publicly.

Expanding deportation program

The deportations are part of the Trump administration’s expanding third-country program to send migrants to countries in Africa that they have no ties with to get them off U.S. soil.

Since July, the U.S. has deported migrants to South Sudan, Eswatini and Rwanda, while a fourth African nation, Uganda, says it has agreed to a deal in principle with the U.S. to accept deportees.

Washington has said it wants to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has been a flashpoint over President Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, to Uganda after he was wrongly deported to his native El Salvador in March.

Etoria served a 25-year prison sentence and was granted parole in 2021, the Legal Aid Society said, but was now being held in Eswatini’s main maximum-security prison for an undetermined period of time despite completing that sentence.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department said that he was convicted of murder. The agency posted on X in reference to a New York Times report on Etoria, saying that it “will continue enforcing the law at full speed — without apology.”

It didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.

The Legal Aid Society said that an Eswatini lawyer acting on behalf of all five men being held in prison there has been repeatedly denied access to them by prison officials since they arrived in the tiny southern African nation bordering South Africa in mid-July.

The other four men are citizens of Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen.

‘Indefinite detention’

A separate lawyer representing the two men from Laos and Vietnam said that his clients also served their criminal sentences in the U.S. and had “been released into the community.”

“Then, without warning and explanation from either the U.S. or Eswatini governments, they were arbitrarily arrested and sent to a country to which they have never ever been,” the lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, said in a statement. “They are now being punished indefinitely for a sentence they already served.”

He said that the U.S. government was “orchestrating secretive third-country transfers with no meaningful legal process, resulting in indefinite detention.”

U.S. Homeland Security said those two men had been convicted of charges including child rape and second-degree murder.

A third lawyer, Alma David, said that she represented the two men from Yemen and Cuba who are also being held in the same prison and denied access to lawyers. She said she had been told by the head of the Eswatini prison that only the U.S. Embassy could grant access to the men.

“Since when does the U.S. Embassy have jurisdiction over Eswatini’s national prisons?” she said in a statement, adding the men weren’t told a reason for their detention, and “no lawyer has been permitted to visit them.” David said all five were being held at U.S. taxpayers’ expense.

Secretive deals

The deportation deals the U.S. has struck in Africa have been secretive, and with countries with questionable rights records.

Authorities in South Sudan have given little information on where eight men sent there in early July are being held or what their fate might be. They were also described by U.S. authorities as dangerous criminals from South Sudan, Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The five men in Eswatini are being held at the Matsapha Correctional Complex. It’s the same prison where Eswatini, which is ruled by a king as Africa’s last absolute monarchy, has imprisoned pro-democracy campaigners amid reports of abuse that includes beatings and the denial of food to inmates.

Eswatini authorities said when the five men arrived that they were being held in solitary confinement.

Another seven migrants were deported by the U.S. to Rwanda in mid-August, Rwandan authorities said. They didn’t say where they are being held or give any information on their identities.

The deportations to Rwanda were kept secret at the time and only announced last week.

Imray writes for the Associated Press.

The United States has announced it is revoking the visas of Brazilian, African and Caribbean officials over their ties to Cuba’s programme that sends doctors abroad, which Washington has described as “forced labour”.

The US named two Brazilian Ministry of Health officials, Mozart Julio Tabosa Sales and Alberto Kleiman, who have had their visas revoked for working on Brazil’s Mais Medicos, or “More Doctors” programme, which was created in 2013.

In a statement on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said sanctions were imposed on officials “involved in abetting the Cuban regime’s coercive labour export scheme”, which he claimed “enriches the corrupt Cuban regime and deprives the Cuban people of essential medical care”.

“The Department of State took steps to revoke visas and impose visa restrictions on several Brazilian government officials, former Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) officials, and their family members for their complicity with the Cuban regime’s labour export scheme in the Mais Medicos programme,” Rubio said.

In an earlier statement, Rubio also announced visa restrictions for African officials, without specifying the countries involved, as well as the Caribbean country Grenada, for the same reasons.

The Cuban government has called Washington’s efforts to stop its medical missions a cynical excuse to go after its foreign currency earnings.

Cuba’s deputy director of US affairs, Johana Tablada, said its “medical cooperation will continue”.

“[Rubio’s] priorities speak volumes: financing Israel genocide on Palestine, torturing Cuba, going after health care services for those who need them most,” Tablada wrote on X.

Cuba’s international missions are sold to third countries and serve as a main source of foreign currency for the economically isolated nation, which has been subject to decades-long crippling sanctions by the US.

Havana’s international medical outreach goes back to the years following the 1959 Cuban Revolution, as Fidel Castro’s communist government provided a free or low-cost medical programme to developing nations as an act of international solidarity.

It is estimated that Havana has sent between 135,000 and 400,000 Cuban doctors abroad in total over the past five decades.

Brazilian Minister of Health Alexandre Padilha said his government would not bow to what he called “unreasonable attacks” on Mais Medicos.

Cuba’s contract in the programme was terminated in 2018 after then-President-elect Jair Bolsonaro questioned the terms of the agreement and Cuban doctors’ qualifications.

Washington is already engaged in a heated diplomatic row with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government after imposing sanctions on Brazilian officials involved in Bolsonaro’s ongoing trial over his alleged coup plot in 2022.

Cuba’s healthcare system is public and meant to be universally accessible. But decades of sanctions and a downturn in tourism due to Trump’s travel ban mean the one-party state is no longer medically self-sufficient.

Since returning to the White House, the Trump administration has resumed its “maximum pressure” campaign against Cuba that typified his first term.

Last year, the island nation of 9.7 million people could not afford the $300m needed to import raw materials to produce hundreds of critical medicines.

In July, Trump imposed sanctions against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces Alvaro Lopez Miera, and Minister of the Interior Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas for their “role in the Cuban regime’s brutality toward the Cuban people”.

Earlier, the Trump administration also signalled its intention to tighten visa restrictions on Cuban and foreign officials linked to Havana’s medical missions around the globe.

Rubio described the medical programme as one where “medical professionals are ‘rented’ by other countries at high prices”, but “most of the revenue is kept by the Cuban authorities”.

In 1999, after Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, Cuba sent medical staff and educators to the country. In return, Cuba bought Venezuelan oil at below-market prices, developing the idea of Havana exporting medical professionals as a source of revenue.

Some 30,000 Cuban medical workers were sent to Venezuela in the first 10 years of the “Oil for Doctors” programme.

Cuba later received hard currency to set up permanent medical missions in countries including South Africa, Brazil, Ecuador and Qatar.

A travel blogger has admitted his latest trip to Spain has ‘completely changed’ how he sees the country after he visited one little-known town he claims is the ‘Cuba of Europe’

A seasoned traveller has admitted his latest European adventure has “completely changed” how he sees Spain, prompting him to ask why nobody had ever told him about a little-known town before. Rob Adcock, who documents his worldwide trips on TikTok, shared his experience after visiting an Atlantic coast city he believes should be talked about more.

Heading through the destination‘s sun-kissed streets, Rob gushed that he felt “like an extra on a movie set”. He revealed: “Someone described it to me as being like the ‘Cuba of Europe’ and they are not wrong – because my camera roll has never taken such a beating.”

Teasing his followers by refraining from giving away its location at first, Rob offered shots of the city’s historic buildings, al fresco dining options and coastal backdrop.

“It’s by the sea so it’s that little bit cooler than the other cities around it,” he said. “And it’s not an expensive place – it’s the perfect mix of a city and a beach break.”

Rob added that accessibility is great, noting that “you can walk everywhere” as “nothing is too far”, which enabled him to get around on foot rather than shelling out for expensive taxi journeys.

“The nearest airport is a £4 train ride and you can fly here through Skyscanner for just £34 in the middle of summer,” he said, sharing a screenshot of an online flight booking as proof.

Rob confessed: “I couldn’t have told you anything about this place before I got here, but now I will not stop whanging on about it to anyone who will listen.”

But where is this haven? “Get it in the chat,” he urged. “[Tell them] you’re going to Cadiz for the weekend.”

Writing in response, one TikTok user revealed they were equally as impressed: “I was there for a day’s stop on a cruise. Went nuts taking pics of old doors. Fell in love with the place.”

A second person noted: “The fish market is amazing too, great bars and restaurants nearby to eat all the delicious seafood and the chicharron de Cadiz is so yummy with a glass or two of Manzanilla or Fino.”

A third praised the content: “Thanks this looks amazing and right up my street.” Whilst a fourth shared: “Great surfing there!”

Cadiz is the southernmost point of mainland Spain and mainland Europe.

The city’s dedicated tourism website states: “Its location has determined its clear maritime vocation and its exclusive dedication to the sea since the earliest days of its founding. Considered the oldest city in the West, the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs all passed through here, and Spain’s first democratic Constitution was drafted here.”

It adds: “The city, popularly known as the “Silver Cup”, has an unmistakable seafaring flavour, and highlights the grace and hospitality of its inhabitants, as demonstrated by its famous carnivals; very interesting monuments such as the Cathedral , the Walls, the Parish of Santa Cruz, the Genovés Park, the Puerta de la Caleta, etc.

“All of them places of undoubted charm, to which we must add its gastronomy and its famous and beautiful beaches, such as La Caleta, Santa María del Mar, or La Victoria.”

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The United States sent five migrants it describes as “barbaric” criminals to the African nation of Eswatini in an expansion of the Trump administration’s largely secretive third-country deportation program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.

The U.S. has already deported eight men to another African country, South Sudan, after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties. The South Sudanese government has declined to say where those men, also described as violent criminals, are after it took custody of them nearly two weeks ago.

In a late-night post on X, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the five men sent to Eswatini, who are citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos, had arrived on a plane, but didn’t say when or where.

She said they were all convicted criminals and “individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.”

The men “have been terrorizing American communities” but were now “off of American soil,” McLaughlin added.

McLaughlin said they had been convicted of crimes including murder and child rape and one was a “confirmed” gang member. Her social media posts included mug shots of the men and what she said were their criminal records and sentences. They were not named.

It was not clear if the men had been deported from prison or if they were detained in immigration operations, and the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t immediately respond to requests for clarification.

Four of the five countries where the men are from have historically been resistant to taking back some citizens when they’re deported from the U.S. That issue has been a reoccurring problem for Homeland Security even before the Trump administration. Some countries refuse to take back any of their citizens, while others won’t accept people who have committed crimes in the U.S.

Like in South Sudan, there was no immediate comment from Eswatini authorities over any deal to accept third-country deportees or what would happen to them in that country. Civic groups there raised concerns over the secrecy from a government long accused of clamping down on human rights.

“There has been a notable lack of official communication from the Eswatini government regarding any agreement or understanding with the U.S. to accept these deportees,” Ingiphile Dlamini, a spokesperson for the pro-democracy group SWALIMO, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

It wasn’t clear if they were being held in a detention center, what their legal status was or what Eswatini’s plans were for the deported men, he said.

An absolute monarchy

Eswatini, previously called Swaziland, is a country of about 1.2 million people between South Africa and Mozambique. It is one of the world’s last remaining absolute monarchies and the last in Africa. King Mswati III has ruled by decree since 1986.

Political parties are effectively banned and pro-democracy groups have said for years that Mswati III has crushed political dissent, sometimes violently.

Pro-democracy protests erupted in Eswatini in 2021, when dozens were killed, allegedly by security forces. Eswatini authorities have been accused of conducting political assassinations of pro-democracy activists and imprisoning others.

Because Eswatini is a poor country, it “may face significant strain in accommodating and managing individuals with complex backgrounds, particularly those with serious criminal convictions,” Dlamini said.

While the U.S. administration has hailed deportations as a victory for the safety and security of the American people, Dlamini said his organization wanted to know the plans for the five men sent to Eswatini and “any potential risks to the local population.”

U.S. is seeking more deals

The Trump administration has said it is seeking more deals with African nations to take deportees from the U.S. Leaders from some of the five West African nations who met last week with President Trump at the White House said the issue of migration and their countries possibly taking deportees from the U.S. was discussed.

Some nations have pushed back. Nigeria, which wasn’t part of that White House summit, said it has rejected pressure from the U.S. to take deportees who are citizens of other countries.

The U.S. also has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama, but has identified Africa as a continent where it might find more governments willing to strike deportation agreements.

Rwanda’s foreign minister told the AP last month that talks were underway with the U.S. about a potential agreement to host deported migrants. A British government plan announced in 2022 to deport rejected asylum-seekers to Rwanda was ruled illegal by the U.K. Supreme Court last year.

‘Not a dumping ground’

The eight men deported by the U.S. to war-torn South Sudan, where they arrived early this month, previously spent weeks at a U.S. military base in nearby Djibouti, located on the northeast border of Ethiopia, as the case over the legality of sending them there played out.

The deportation flight to Eswatini is the first to a third country since the Supreme Court ruling cleared the way.

The South Sudanese government has not released details of its agreement with the U.S. to take deportees, nor has it said what will happen to the men. A prominent civil society leader there said South Sudan was “not a dumping ground for criminals.”

Analysts say some African nations might be willing to take third-country deportees in return for more favorable terms from the U.S. in negotiations over tariffs, foreign aid and investment, and restrictions on travel visas.

Imray and Gumede write for the Associated Press. Gumede reported from Johannesburg. AP writer Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed to this report.

Labour Minister Marta Elena Feito Cabrera’s comments dismissing poverty in the Caribbean island nation trigger angry backlash.

Cuban Labour and Social Security Minister Marta Elena Feito Cabrera has resigned after saying there are no beggars in Cuba, only people pretending to be.

Cuba’s presidency said in a post on social media on Wednesday that Feito had “acknowledged her errors and submitted her resignation” over her “lack of objectivity and sensitivity” in addressing issues that are “at the centre of political and governmental management”.

The news came a day after Feito made the comments about poverty in the island nation to deputies in a National Assembly committee.

“We have seen people, apparently beggars, [but] when you look at their hands, look at the clothes these people are wearing, they are disguised as beggars. They are not beggars,” Feito said.

“In Cuba, there are no beggars,” she said.

The minister added that people cleaning car windscreens live “easy” lives and they use the money they make to “drink alcohol”.

Feito also lashed out against those who search through rubbish dumps, saying they are recovering materials “to resell and not pay tax”.

The remarks quickly went viral, prompting calls for Feito’s impeachment and a wave of criticism in a country experiencing a tough economic situation in recent years.

Even Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was critical.

Without mentioning her by name but referring to the meeting at the National Assembly committee in which Feito participated, Diaz-Canel said on his X account: “The lack of sensitivity in addressing vulnerability is highly questionable. The revolution cannot leave anyone behind; that is our motto, our militant responsibility.”

Cuba blames its economic woes on a Cold War-era United States trade embargo, which complicates financial transactions and the acquisition of essentials, such as fuel and spare parts. The US imposed the embargo in 1960 after the Cuban Revolution, led by Fidel Castro.

The embargo is widely criticised with 185 of 193 countries at the United Nations voting to condemn it.

US President Donald Trump recently tightened sanctions on the island’s Communist Party-run government, pledging to restore a “tough” policy towards the Caribbean country.

Former US President Barack Obama took considerable steps to ease tensions with Cuba during his time in office, including restoring US-Cuba relations and making the first visit by a US president to the country in 90 years. Cuba has also faced an energy crisis and blackouts in recent months as supplies of subsidised Venezuelan oil have become increasingly precarious as Venezuela grapples with its own economic woes.

Last week, the US Department of State imposed sanctions against Diaz-Canel as well as the luxury high-rise Hotel Torre K in central Havana.

Travel and tourism are important to Cuba’s struggling economy with millions of tourists visiting the island nation each year.

According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development, Cuba had a gross domestic product of $9,296 per person in 2019, making it an upper middle income country.

State Department head Rubio said he had sanctioned several senior officials and their ‘cronies’ for their ‘brutality toward the Cuban people’.

The US State Department has imposed sanctions on senior Cuban officials, including President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced as he marked the fourth anniversary of a brutal crackdown on historic antigovernment protests.

In a post on X, Rubio said the State Department would be “restricting visas for Cuban regime figureheads”, including President Diaz-Canel, Defence Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera, Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas, and their “cronies” for their “role in the Cuban regime’s brutality toward the Cuban people”.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also announced that the State Department has added the Torre K hotel to its restricted list of entities in order to “prevent US dollars from funding the Cuban regime’s repression”.

The Cuban government has promoted the luxury high-rise Torre K in central Havana as a symbol of modernisation. But the government has faced criticism for its large investment in luxury hotels amid a severe economic crisis in the nominally socialist one-party state.

“While the Cuban people suffer shortages of food, water, medicine, and electricity, the regime lavishes money on its insiders,” Rubio said.

Ten other “regime-linked properties” were also added to the State Department’s List of Prohibited Accommodations, it said in a statement.

The statement said the sanctions were being enacted in “solidarity with the Cuban people and the island’s political prisoners”, citing the Cuban government’s brutal crackdown on the July 2021 demonstrations – the largest since the Cuban revolution in the 1950s.

The police crackdown resulted in one death and dozens of wounded protesters.

“Four years ago, thousands of Cubans peacefully took to the streets to demand a future free from tyranny. The Cuban regime responded with violence and repression, unjustly detaining thousands, including over 700 who are still imprisoned and subjected to torture or abuse,” the State Department said.

Rubio also accused Cuba of torturing pro-democracy activist Jose Daniel Ferrer, whose bail was revoked as he was taken into custody alongside fellow dissident Felix Navarro in April.

“The United States demands immediate proof of life and the release of all political prisoners,” Rubio said.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez slammed the latest measures as part of a “ruthless economic war” being waged by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

“The USA is capable of imposing migratory sanctions against revolutionary leaders and maintaining a prolonged and ruthless economic war against Cuba, but it lacks the ability to break the will of these people or their leaders,” he said on X.

In January, then-US President Joe Biden had removed Cuba from the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism.

But Trump returned the country to the blacklist immediately after returning to the White House as he resumed his “maximum pressure” campaign against Cuba that typified his foreign policy during his first term.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — An unusual request from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about Cuban medical brigades that operate worldwide and provide much needed help has roiled countries in the Caribbean and the Americas.

In a letter obtained by the Associated Press, the commission asks members of the Organization of American States, OAS, for details including whether they have an agreement with Cuba for medical missions, whether those workers have labor and union rights and information about any labor complaints.

“This was an unprecedented move,” said Francesca Emanuele, senior international policy associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. “It’s deeply troubling.”

Cuba has more than 22,000 doctors working in more than 50 countries, including in the Caribbean and the Americas, according to its government. A breakdown for the region was not available, but many impoverished nations in the Caribbean rely heavily on those medical professionals.

The commission, an independent body of the OAS, which is heavily funded by the U.S., said it plans to analyze the data collected as well as offer recommendations “given the persistence of reports of rights violations.”

A spokesperson for the commission declined comment, saying the letter is private.

The letter was sent after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions in late February for Cuban or foreign government officials accused of involvement in Cuba’s medical missions, which he called “forced labor.”

“The timing is really suspicious,” Emanuele said, noting that the information requested “falls squarely” within the member states’ sovereign decision-making. “The role of this organization should not be distorted.”

In June, the administration of U.S. President Trump slapped several unidentified officials from Central America with visa restrictions.

A deadline looms

Silence has prevailed since the human rights commission issued its May 24 letter giving OAS member states 30 days to respond.

“I’m awaiting a regional approach,” said Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

He said in a phone interview that he would raise the issue next week during a meeting of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States as chairman.

“There are no human rights issues involved here,” he said, noting that St. Vincent is party to several international and labor conventions. “They have not been breached and will not be breached.”

Gonsalves said Cuban doctors run the sole hemodialysis center in St. Vincent that provides free care to 64 patients at a rate of $5 million a year.

“Without the Cubans, that dialysis center will close,” he said.

When asked if he worried about potential visa restrictions, Gonsalves said he met earlier this year with Rubio and provided a lengthy letter that he declined to share detailing the work of Cuban medical professionals in St. Vincent.

“We didn’t scrimp on any of the details,” he said. “I didn’t walk away from that meeting thinking that there was any possibility or threat of sanctions.”

A divided region

Guyana’s foreign minister, Hugh Todd, told the Associated Press on Friday that the government plans to amend its payment and recruitment system involving Cuban medical professionals.

He said their main concern “is to make sure we are compliant with international labor laws.” Todd did not say whether the planned amendments are related to concerns over U.S. visa restrictions.

Late Thursday, Guyanese Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said the government wants to ensure that “the conditions of work here don’t run afoul of the requirements set by the United States of America.”

Guyana depends heavily on the U.S. for support, especially given an ongoing and bitter border dispute with neighboring Venezuela.

Some Caribbean leaders have said they would risk losing a U.S. visa, noting that Cuban medical professionals provide much needed help in the region.

“If we cannot reach a sensible agreement on this matter… if the cost of it is the loss of my visa to the U.S., then so be it,” Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley told Parliament in March as legislators pounded a table in support.

No Cuban medical workers are currently in Barbados.

Echoing Mottley’s sentiment was Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley.

“I just came back from California, and if I never go back there again in my life, I will ensure that the sovereignty of Trinidad and Tobago is known to its people and respected by all,” he said in March.

In April, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel criticized what he described as a campaign against the Caribbean country.

“There is no doubt that that desperate campaign to block Cuban cooperation has two clear objectives: to close off any avenue of income for the country, even in an activity as noble and necessary to other nations as healthcare services,” he said.

“The other reason is political and ideological: They want to sweep Cuba away as an example. And they resort to methods as immoral as threatening any foreign official involved in that activity,” he added.

Rubio has defended visa restrictions, saying they promote accountability.

Coto writes for the Associated Press. AP reporters Bert Wilkinson in Georgetown, Guyana, and Andrea Rodríguez in Havana contributed to this report.

MIAMI — President Trump’s new ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect Monday amid rising tension over the president’s escalating campaign of immigration enforcement.

The new proclamation, which Trump signed last week, applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don’t hold a valid visa.

The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, according to guidance issued Friday to all U.S. diplomatic missions. However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting Monday. Travelers with previously issued visas should still be able to enter the U.S. even after the ban takes effect.

During Trump’s first term, a hastily written executive order mandating the denial of entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries created chaos at numerous airports and other ports of entry, prompting successful legal challenges and major revisions to the policy.

In the hours after the new ban took effect, no disruptions were immediately discernible at Los Angeles International Airport. And passengers appeared to move steadily through an international arrival area at Miami International Airport, where green card holder Luis Hernandez returned to Miami after a weekend visiting family in Cuba.

“They did not ask me anything,” said Hernandez, a Cuban citizen who has lived in the U.S. for three years. “I only showed my residency card.”

Magda Moreno and her husband also said things seemed normal when they arrived Monday in Miami after a trip to Cuba to see relatives. Asked about the travel restrictions for Cubans, Moreno, a U.S. citizen, said: “It is difficult not being able to bring the family and for them not being able to enter into the U.S.”

Many immigration experts say the new ban is more carefully crafted and appears designed to beat court challenges that hampered the first by focusing on the visa application process.

Trump said this time that some countries had “deficient” screening for passports and other public documents or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. He relied extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of people who remain in the U.S. after their visas expired.

Measuring overstay rates has challenged experts for decades, but the government has made a limited attempt annually since 2016. Trump’s proclamation cites overstay rates for eight of the 12 banned countries.

Trump also tied the new ban to a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colo., saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. U.S. officials say the man charged in the attack overstayed a tourist visa. He is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump’s restricted list.

The ban was quickly denounced by groups that provide aid and resettlement help to refugees.

“This policy is not about national security — it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, a nonprofit international relief organization.

Haiti’s transitional presidential council said in a social media post Monday that the ban “is likely to indiscriminately affect all Haitians.” Acknowledging “fierce fighting” against gangs controlling most of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, the council said it is strengthening Haiti’s borders and would negotiate with the U.S. to drop Haiti from the list of banned countries.

Gang violence has prevented many Haitians from risking a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Sheena Jean-Pierre, a 27-year-old civil engineer, went recently to see whether long lines had formed because of the ban. She had previously requested a visa three times to study in the U.S. but was rejected.

Jean-Pierre is now looking to continue her studies in other countries such as Brazil and Argentina. She said she doesn’t oppose the travel ban, saying the U.S. “has law and order,” unlike Haiti.

The inclusion of Afghanistan angered some supporters who have worked to resettle its people. The ban does make exceptions for Afghans on Special Immigrant Visas, generally people who worked most closely with the U.S. government during the two-decade-long war there.

Afghanistan had been one of the largest sources of resettled refugees, with about 14,000 arrivals in a 12-month period through September 2024. Trump suspended refugee resettlement his first day in office.

Solomon writes for the Associated Press. AP journalists Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.