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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2019)
NATION/WORLD Thursday, April 18, 2019 East Oregonian A7 Trump cracks down on Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela By GISELA SALOMON, DEB RIECHMANN AND MATTHEW LEE Associated Press CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Trump administra- tion on Wednesday inten- sifi ed its crackdown on Cuba, Nicaragua and Ven- ezuela, rolling back Obama administration policy and announcing new restrictions and sanctions against the three countries whose lead- ers national security adviser John Bolton dubbed the “three stooges of socialism.” “The troika of tyranny — Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua — is beginning to crumble,” Bolton said in a speech near Miami on the 58th anniversary of the United States’ failed Bay of Pigs invasion of the island, an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government. The measures seem likely to hit hardest in Cuba, which is at a moment of severe economic weakness as it struggles to fi nd cash to import basic food and other supplies following a drop in aid from Venezuela and a string of bad years in other AP Photos This combination of images shows, from left, Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Nicara- gua’s President Daniel Ortega and Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. key economic sectors. Bolton announced a new cap on the amount of money that families in the United States can send their rela- tives in Cuba. The Obama administration had lifted limits on remittances, but the new limit will be $1,000 per person per quarter. Remittances to Cuba from the United States amounted to $3 billion in 2016, accord- ing to the State Department. Washington also moved to restrict “non-family travel” after a broad loos- ening of so-called purpose- ful visits under Obama led to soaring numbers of American trips for cultural and educational exchanges. Details on the restrictions were not immediately clear, but tourism is a key lifeline of hard currency for Cuba. Bolton spoke hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new policy allowing lawsuits against foreign fi rms oper- ating on properties Cuba seized from Americans after the 1959 revolution. The United States has enforced a trade embargo against Cuba since the early 1960s. Cuban offi cials met the announcements with defi ance. “Nobody will snatch away from us, neither through seduction nor force, ‘the Fatherland that our par- ents won for us by standing up,’” President Miguel Díaz- Canel said via Twitter. “We Cubans will not surrender.” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez called it an attack on international law, Cuban sovereignty and countries that would do business with the island: “Aggressive esca- lation by US against Cuba will fail. Like at Giron, we will be victorious,” he tweeted, referring to a Bay of Pigs beach where invad- ers landed. On Venezuela, Bolton said Washington was sanc- tioning the country’s Cen- tral Bank, which the Trump administration says has been instrumental in propping up the embattled government of President Nicolás Mad- uro. He also announced sanctions against fi nancial services provider Bancorp, which he claimed is a “slush fund” for Nicaraguan Presi- dent Daniel Ortega. “The United States looks forward to watching each corner of this sordid triangle of terror fall: in Havana, in Caracas, and in Managua,” Bolton said in South Flor- ida, which is home to many thousands of people from the three countries. He said Obama admin- istration policies had given the Cuban government “political cover to expand its malign infl uence” across the region, including in Venezu- ela. Cuba has trained Ven- ezuelan security forces to repress civilians and sup- port Maduro, Bolton said, calling Maduro “quite sim- ply a Cuban puppet.” Bolton’s pledge to “never, ever abandon” the people of Cuba, Venezuela and Nica- ragua in their fi ght for free- dom also might ring hol- low in light of the historical events he sought to high- light at the event hosted by the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association. Many Cuban Americans to this day resent the late President John F. Kennedy for not deploying American troops at a critical moment in the Bay of Pigs invasion. Meanwhile, some crit- ics of U.S. policy worry that the Trump administration’s stance that all options are on the table, including a mil- itary one, to oust Maduro is an empty threat that will only serve to ignite geopo- litical tensions with Russia, compounding the misery of Venezuelan citizens. at the London hotel claimed to live in Hong Kong, but didn’t seem familiar with the city. Then there was the awkward conversation, which kept returning to one topic: the Russian antivirus fi rm Kaspersky Lab. He also asked Giles to repeat himself or speak louder so persistently that Giles said he began won- dering “whether I should be speaking into his tie or his briefcase or wherever the microphone was.” “He was drilling down hard on whether there had been any ulterior motives behind negative media commentary on Kasper- sky,” said Giles, a Russia specialist with London’s Chatham House think tank who often has urged cau- tion about Kaspersky’s alleged Kremlin con- nections. “The angle he wanted to push was that individuals — like me — who had been quoted in the media had been induced by or motivated to do so by Kaspersky’s competitors.” The Associated Press has learned that the mysterious man, who said his name was Lucas Lambert, spent sev- eral months last year inves- tigating critics of Kaspersky Lab, organizing at least four meetings with cybersecu- rity experts in London and New York. BRIEFLY Long-lost Kafka $1 billion raised works could to rebuild Notre emerge after messy Dame after fi re legal battle JERUSALEM (AP) — A long-hidden trove of unpub- lished works by Franz Kafka could soon be revealed fol- lowing a decade-long battle over his literary estate that has drawn comparisons to some of his surreal tales. A court in Zurich upheld Israeli verdicts in the case last week, ruling that sev- eral safe deposit boxes in the Swiss city could be opened and their contents shipped to Israel’s National Library. At stake are untouched papers that could shed new light on one of literature’s darkest fi gures, a Ger- man-speaking Bohemian Jew from Prague whose cul- tural legacy has been hotly contested between Israel and Germany. Though the exact con- tent of the vaults remains unknown, experts have speculated the cache could include endings to some of Kafka’s major works, many of which were unfi nished when they were published after his death. Israel’s Supreme Court has already stripped an Israeli family of its collec- tion of Kafka’s manuscripts, which were hidden in Israeli bank vaults and in a squalid, cat-fi lled Tel Aviv apart- ment. But the Swiss ruling would complete the acquisi- tion of nearly all his known works, after years of legal battles over their rightful owners. PARIS (AP) — Nearly $1 billion has poured in from around the world to restore the fi re-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, after the French pres- ident set a 5-year deadline to get the work done. Construction teams brought in a crane and a delivery of planks of wood to the site Wednes- day morning. Firefi ghters are still examining damage and shoring up the struc- ture after Monday’s fi re col- lapsed the cathedral’s spire and destroyed the roof. French President Emmanuel Macron ratch- eted up the pressure by set- ting a 5-year deadline to restore the 12th-century landmark. Macron is hold- ing a special Cabinet meet- ing Wednesday dedicated to the Notre Dame disaster, which investigators believe was an accident possibly linked to renovation work. Bells will toll at cathe- drals around France on Wednesday evening in honor of the monument. No one was killed in the fi re, after fi refi ghters and church offi cials speedily evacuated the site during a mass. Celebrities donate to 2020 Democrats WASHINGTON (AP) — From Ben Affl eck and Susan Sarandon to Anna Wintour and Willie Nel- son, celebrities lined up to give money to their favor- ite Democratic presiden- tial candidates ahead of this week’s fi rst quarter fund- raising deadline. For months, candidates in the crowded fi eld of more than a dozen contenders have aggressively courted key fi gures in music, tele- vision, publishing and fi lm, who are one of the party’s most reliable sources of campaign cash. Although many donors remain on the sidelines, contribut- ing to lackluster fundrais- ing hauls, an early snapshot included in the campaign fi nance reports submitted to the Federal Election Com- mission this week offers a glimpse of who is drawing attention from entertain- ment industry in the early stages of the race. “When you talk about Hollywood, yes, we are talking about movie stars and writers and directors, but we are also talking about people with decades of experience with presiden- tial campaigns,” said Yusef Robb, a longtime California political strategist. California Sen. Kamala Harris has long-standing relationships with major entertainment industry fi g- ures in her home state. But former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg are also among the candidates who count celeb- rities as donors. So far, few donors are bundling large sums of money for candidates by St. Anthony Provider Spotligh t Dr Kargar is now accepting new patients. Internal Medicine Board Certification: Board Certified American Board of Internal Medicine, University of Medicine & Dental of New Jersey School of Osteo Medicine Education: California State University, Hayward Insurance Accepted: Most major insurances, Medicare, Medicaid Special Services: Internal Medicine Arian Kargar D.O. 3001 St. Anthony Way Pendleton, OR 97801 Call for your appointment today 541.966.0535 FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.SAHPENDLETON.ORG asking their friends, fam- ily and colleagues to give, too. But many have given individually, which is lim- ited under campaign fi nance law to a $2,800 contribution during the primary election, and another $2,800 for the general election campaign. Undercover spy targeted Kaspersky critics LONDON (AP) — Keir Giles’ fi rst thought was that the man’s cheap-looking suit didn’t seem right for a pri- vate equity executive. The man seated in front of him Sponsored By: 10AM : APRIL 20TH AGES 10 AND UNDER The Easter Egg Hunt will be at Fallen Field just behind the Pendleton Convention Center. SW 18th Street. Afterward stop by the Passport to Wellness Health Fair at the Convention Center BRING YOUR BRING ! S T E BASK YOUR CAMERA S TOO!