INTERNACIONAL
Obama’s baseball outing with Castro reignites fury after Trump DOJ drops hammer on Cuban leader
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Former Cuban President Raúl Castro was indicted Wednesday in connection with the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft that killed four people — reviving scrutiny of former President Barack Obama’s highly publicized 2016 trip to Havana.
«President Obama’s approach to Cuba was not merely a policy mistake. It was a diplomatic disaster — naive at best, incompetent at worst, and deeply disrespectful to the dissidents, political prisoners and victims who suffered under the Castro regime,» former Miami mayor Francis Suarez, who is Cuban-American, told Fox News Digital.
«Obama treated normalization as enlightened diplomacy. It handed legitimacy to a brutal dictatorship while asking little in return,» said the Fox News contributor. «The administration reopened relations, relaxed restrictions and gave Havana a public-relations victory, yet the Cuban people remained trapped under the same repressive system and the United States gained no meaningful security concessions.»
The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed a superseding indictment charging Castro and five co-defendants over the deaths of four U.S. nationals aboard two unarmed civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based exile group. Cuban-American critics said the charges underscore longstanding objections to Obama’s normalization push, which they argue gave legitimacy to the Castro regime.
US MOVING TO INDICT FORMER CUBAN LEADER RAÚL CASTRO: SOURCE
Obama went to Cuba with his family in 2016 for bilateral talks on human rights and economic discussions. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Obama traveled to Cuba in 2016 as part of his administration’s push to normalize U.S.-Cuba relations after decades of hostility, arguing that engagement on diplomacy, the economy and human rights would be more effective than isolation. The visit also included Obama and Castro attending a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team in Havana.
«I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas,» Obama said from Havana that year. «I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people.»
Photos of Obama and Castro embracing during the 2016 Havana trip quickly resurfaced online after the indictment, going viral across social media and triggering a wave of criticism from users who blasted the optics of the former president’s relationship with the communist leader.
«While Raoul was harboring American terrorists like Joanne Chesimard and Guillermo Morales. Disgusting,» wrote Fox News contributor Paul Mauro on X.
«Barack Obama in his element with communists and criminals,» wrote General Mike Flynn on X.
OBAMA SETS INTERNET ABLAZE WITH ‘SICK’ REACTION TO THE ‘MOTIVE’ OF WHCD SHOOTER
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz reposted a photo with a cringe emoji.
Castro, 94, is the younger brother of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Raul Castro served as Cuba’s president from 2008 to 2018.
Suarez said that Obama’s Cuba policies were not just a human rights failure but a national security failure not understanding the serious threat the regime posed.
DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS CRITICIZE BIDEN ADMIN’S CUBA DETENTE’
Photos of Obama and Raul Castro at a baseball game in Havana resurface after the DOJ unsealed the Castro indictment. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
«It did nothing to curtail Cuba’s role as a base for America’s enemies. It did nothing to confront the island’s use as an intelligence and spy platform so close to our shores. It did nothing to reduce the regime’s support for terrorism. It did nothing to confront Cuba’s narco-state behavior or its destabilizing influence throughout the hemisphere,» said Suarez.
RUBIO BLASTS COMMUNIST CUBAN REGIME AS NJ TROOPER’S KILLER REMAINS FREE
President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro stand together during Obama’s visit to Cuba. (Getty Images)
Obama’s trip came two decades after the 1996 incident, which became a major flashpoint in U.S.-Cuba relations, as the Trump administration adopted a more public and hardline approach toward Cuba.
TRUMP DECLARES NATIONAL EMERGENCY OVER CUBA, THREATENS TARIFFS ON NATIONS THAT SUPPLY OIL TO COMMUNIST REGIME
«Raúl Castro and five co-defendants participated in a conspiracy that ended with Cuban military aircraft firing missiles at those planes and killing four Americans,» said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday during the indictment announcement. «Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans. Kill them, and not face accountability.»
Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro attend a parade in Havana, Cuba, on Dec. 2, 1996. (Sven Creutzmann/Mambo Photography/Getty Images)
Following the indictment, Trump said Cuba is «very important.»
«A lot of people have suffered very big, very, very at levels that few people would understand. And I think the Cuban population of Miami, and certainly beyond Miami,» said Trump. «People that came there that were decimated, whose families were ruined, appreciate what the Attorney General just did today, and he’s just doing it now. He’s just watching it. We have Cuba on our mind. Very important.»
Suarez said that for Cuban Americans, Obama cozying up with Castro was disrespectful.
«It is about families torn apart, property confiscated, voices silenced, dissidents beaten, prisoners of conscience abandoned and generations forced to live under fear. To treat the Castro government as a normal partner without first honoring those victims was not diplomacy,» he said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Trump has previously joked the U.S. would be «taking over» Cuba «almost immediately.»
«Cuba’s got problems. We’ll finish one first. I like to finish a job,» he added this month.
Fox News Digital reached out to Obama’s office and the White House for additional comment on the renewed criticisms of the trip.
cuba, michael flynn, barack obama, donald trump, fox news investigates
Diplomacia y tensiones
Dos narcisistas y el Palacio de Versalles
Una relación explosiva
Necesita escuchar otro punto de vista
INTERNACIONAL
Nuevo respaldo de EEUU al Gobierno de Bolivia: “No dejaremos que derroquen líderes elegidos democráticamente”
En medio de la ola de conflictos sociales que atraviesa Bolivia, el gobierno de Estados Unidos volvió a expresar su respaldo al presidente Rodrigo de Paz, que enfrenta pedidos de renuncia a solo seis meses de haber asumido el cargo.
A través de una publicación de X, el secretario de Estado de EEUU, Marco Rubio, expresó: “que no quepa duda: Estados Unidos apoya sin reservas al gobierno constitucional legítimo de Bolivia. No dejaremos que delincuentes y narcotraficantes derroquen a líderes elegidos democráticamente en nuestro hemisferio”.
Se trata del tercer pronunciamiento de respaldo a Paz en lo que va de la semana. El domingo, la Oficina de Asuntos del Hemisferio Occidental condenó las manifestaciones y expresó su apoyo al gobierno boliviano para restablecer “el orden en favor de la paz, la seguridad y la estabilidad del pueblo”.
“En Bolivia, los disturbios y los bloqueos han provocado una crisis humanitaria, causando escasez de medicamentos, alimentos y combustible. Condenamos todas las acciones destinadas a desestabilizar al gobierno democráticamente elegido de Rodrigo Paz Pereira”, se lee en el documento difundido.
Dos días después, el subsecretario de Estado, Christopher Landau —que había participado como invitado en la posesión de Paz—, señaló que “aquellos que perdieron abrumadoramente en las urnas el año pasado están intentando derrocar al presidente”. A decir de Landau, los manifestantes tienen “apoyo del crimen organizado y narcotraficantes”.
El número dos del Departamento de Estado informó que sostuvo una conversación telefónica con su “amigo” Rodrigo Paz en la que le ratificó el apoyo de Estados Unidos y el rechazo a “este intento de sustituir el orden institucional por el dominio de la turba”.
Las declaraciones de los funcionarios estadounidenses van en línea con lo señalado por la administración de Paz, que en más de una ocasión ha acusado sin pruebas a los manifestantes de estar financiados con dinero del narcotráfico.
Bolivia atraviesa un tiempo de tensión tras varios días de protestas convocadas por diversos sectores para presentar reclamos sindicales —por incremento salarial y la abrogación de una ley que autorizaba cambios en la propiedad agraria, principalmente—, pero luego surgieron pedidos de renuncia contra el presidente por un descontento general con su gestión.
Hace más de dos semanas que indígenas del altiplano realizan bloqueos que tienen cercada la ciudad de La Paz, que padece de escasez de algunos alimentos e insumos básicos. En este tiempo hubo dos jornadas de violencia cuando mineros, equipados con dinamita y material explosivo, se enfrentaron a la Policía, atacaron instituciones públicas y agredieron físicamente a civiles.
Los conflictos sociales provocaron una fuerte reacción internacional. Además de los pronunciamientos del gobierno estadounidense, ocho países latinoamericanos —Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panamá, Paraguay y Perú— emitieron un comunicado conjunto en el que rechazaron “toda acción orientada a desestabilizar el orden democrático” y a “alterar la institucionalidad” del Gobierno.
De igual forma, la Unión Europea expresó su preocupación por la situación en Bolivia, al igual que lo hicieron más de 30 expresidentes de América y España que conforman el Grupo Idea.
El miércoles, el Consejo Permanente de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) tuvo una sesión extraordinaria para discutir la actualidad boliviana, en la que los países miembros llamaron a preservar la institucionalidad democrática frente a la crisis social y política que atraviesa el país.
A pesar de este respaldo prácticamente unánime de la comunidad internacional al gobierno de Paz, el conflicto generó una crisis diplomática con Colombia, luego de que la Cancillería boliviana decidiera expulsar a su embajadora en rechazo a declaraciones que había hecho el presidente Gustavo Petro en respaldo a las movilizaciones.
El canciller Fernando Aramayo calificó las afirmaciones de Petro como “injerencia en asuntos internos” y expulsó a Elizabeth García. Más tarde, Colombia respondió a esta acción expulsando al representante diplomático de Bolivia, Percy Molina.
Aunque la reacción boliviana ha sido criticada y algunos líderes de opinión la han considerado desproporcionada e inoportuna, el presidente Paz la justificó horas más tarde en una conferencia de prensa: “El ataque de Petro es un ataque a la democracia boliviana”.
Diplomacy / Foreign Policy
INTERNACIONAL
Record number of climbers summit Mount Everest from Nepali side despite overcrowding concerns
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A record 274 climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest in a single day this week, as critics warn the world’s tallest peak is becoming dangerously overcrowded with thrill-seekers willing to pay $15,000 for a shot at the top.
The surge shattered the previous Nepali record of 223 climbers set in 2019, Rishi Bhandari, secretary general of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, told Reuters on Thursday.
«This is the highest number of climbers in a single day so far,» Bhandari said, adding that the final summit total could rise even further as some climbers had not yet officially reported their successful ascents.
Nepal has already issued 494 Everest climbing permits this season, each costing climbers $15,000.
EXTREME TRAVEL DESTINATION TO RESTRICT POPULAR MOUNTAIN ACCESS
Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to the summit of Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, Nepal, on May 18, 2026. (Purnima Shrestha/Reuters)
Climbers this year are ascending only from the Nepal side of Everest because China reportedly did not issue permits for expeditions from the Tibetan side.
Mount Everest is shown in Nepal. On Monday, seven people died at the base camp on Mount Yalung Ri, also in Nepal. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Mountaineering experts have long criticized Nepal for allowing large numbers of climbers on Everest, warning that overcrowding can create life-threatening bottlenecks high on the mountain in Everest’s deadly «death zone,» where oxygen levels plunge to dangerously low levels.
LEGENDARY MOUNTAINEER JIM WHITTAKER, FIRST AMERICAN TO SUMMIT EVEREST, DEAD AT 97
Mountaineers line up as they climb a slope during their ascent to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal on May 31, 2021. (Lakpa Sherpa/AFP)
Nepal has attempted to respond to safety concerns in recent years by tightening rules and increasing fees for climbers, though some expedition leaders have defended the high number of climbers.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
«If teams carry enough oxygen it is not a big problem,» expedition organizer Lukas Furtenbach of the Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures told the outlet. «We have mountains in the Alps like the Zugspitze where we have 4,000 persons on top per day. So 274 is actually not a big number, considering this mountain is 10 times bigger.»
mount everest, extreme travel, travel, asia world regions, world
Macri replicó a Martín Menem, dijo que Milei «se ve como un profeta» y respondió sobre una eventual candidatura en 2027
El índice de confianza mostró señales de recuperación en mayo: dónde se vio la mejora
Canales para ver el Liga de Quito vs Lanús por la Copa Libertadores
Por razones de salud, Máximo Kirchner faltó a la sesión en la que el Gobierno recortó una ley que él impulsó
El duelo Macron-Trump: llamadas llenas de reproches y una próxima cita en Versalles
En medio de la tensión entre el PRO y LLA, Mauricio Macri volvió a criticar a Javier Milei
El PRO redobló las críticas contra La Libertad Avanza y elevó la tensión: «Cuando ellos estaban callados, nosotros combatíamos al kirchnerismo”
La dictadura de Cuba adquirió más de 300 drones militares de Rusia e Irán en medio de las tensiones con EEUU
Victoria Villarruel volvió a diferenciarse del Gobierno y cuestionó la compra de un avión
Los bancarios lograron un nuevo aumento alineado con la inflación y el sueldo inicial marca otro récord
POLITICA3 días agoLos bancarios lograron un nuevo aumento alineado con la inflación y el sueldo inicial marca otro récord
- POLITICA3 días ago
Kicillof prepara su proyecto de ley para regular el trabajo de aplicaciones en PBA
- POLITICA1 día ago
El “Gordo Dan” habló sobre la interna libertaria, apuntó contra Martín Menem y aseguró: “Le mintieron al Presidente”
