By Global News Service

From the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service

Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., Faces Another Terrorist Attack

Cuba’s embassy in the U.S. capital of Washington D.C. was the target of a violent attack late on September 24. In a statement shared on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said that an individual had thrown two Molotov cocktails at the embassy building.

He added that no personnel had been injured in the attack and the details of the incident were being looked into. He also noted that this was the second such attack against the headquarters of Cuba’s diplomatic mission in the U.S. An individual had fired multiple rounds of bullets from an AK-47 assault rifle at the building in April 2020.

Cuba’s embassy in France was also attacked with Molotov cocktails in July 2021.

“Anti-Cuban groups resort to terrorism because they feel impunity, something Cuba has warned U.S. authorities about,” Rodríguez said.

In a report released in 2020, Cuba’s Center for Historical Investigations of State Security (CIHSE) documented 581 attacks against the country’s diplomatic representations abroad since the Cuban Revolution in 1959. These attacks have led to the deaths of approximately 365 people and injured 721, including foreign nationals.

The September 24 attack took place just hours after President Miguel Díaz-Canel arrived back in Havana after attending the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Cuba is currently serving as the chairman of the G77+China bloc of countries.

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Parents of Disappeared Ayotzinapa Students Begin Indefinite Sit-in Protest Outside Military Camp in Mexico City

On September 21, parents of the 43 students of the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College, who disappeared in September 2014, demonstrated in front of the Military Camp No. 1 in the capital Mexico City.

Carrying large banners that read, “Where are our children,” “We are missing 43,” and “Because they were taken alive, we want them back alive,” the parents demanded that the Mexican Armed Forces hand over all available information about the mass kidnapping and disappearance of their loved ones.

The parents and relatives of the students, with the help of students from different rural colleges, set up outside the camp and began an indefinite sit-in protest. They announced that they wouldn’t move until they received the information withheld by the army. Human rights and grassroots movement organizations announced that they would support the parents and provide them with food and other essentials in solidarity with their struggle.

Melitón Ortega, a spokesperson from the families of the disappeared students, said, “We do not come here to confront the military, we come to tell them that they have a responsibility and a commitment that they have been denying.”

“We are here to demand that the army give us those documents that we need… All we want is to know the truth about their whereabouts,” he added.

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Under French-Backed Military Ruler Mahamat Déby, Chad Is a “Pressure Cooker Waiting to Explode”

The wave of anti-French sentiment sweeping the Sahel region is resonating in Chad as well. While the French-backed military junta has received support from the international community, including UN officials, it is facing intense resistance within, with an activist describing the country as a “pressure cooker waiting to explode.”

Chad’s military junta led by Mahamat Déby was to give up power to an elected civilian government by October 20, 2022. However, the election was not held, and the military rule was extended by another two years in October.

Opposing the extension, protesters took to the streets on October 20, 2022, in the capital N’Djamena and across the country, raising slogans against the junta and France.

The junta responded with repression, killing at least 128 people. The National Human Rights Commission of Chad (CNDH) reported earlier this year that 943 people were arrested, another 435 detained, and 12 disappeared in the crackdown on October 20, which has come to be known as the “Black Thursday.”

“The events of October 20 have greatly impacted Chadian politics. The regime is now visibly afraid of protests,” said Max Loalngar, president of the Chadian Human Rights League (LTDH).

Chad’s military junta was formed with France’s support in April 2021 by General Mahamat Déby, who seized power in a coup after his father, the then-president Idriss Déby, was killed while on a visit to soldiers who were fighting rebels.

Idriss Déby, who ruled Chad for over 30 years till his death in 2021, was widely described as a dictator. At his funeral, French President Emmanuel Macron hailed him as “a great soldier” and a “courageous friend” of France. Macron went on to reassure his son, Mahamat Déby, of France’s support.

On September 5, the Chadian army shot several protesters to disperse anti-French demonstrations in the city of Faya-Largeau. The protesters had surrounded the French garrison in the city, with several reportedly trying to break in, on learning that a Chadian soldier, 35-year-old Mahamat Dakou Hamid, had been shot dead inside by a French army medic.

While the circumstances of his killing are disputed, the militant protests it instantly triggered illustrate that underneath the relative stability Déby’s regime has maintained on the surface since Black Thursday, there is what Loalngar called, “a pressure cooker ready to explode.”

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Demands Renewal of Peace Process, Full UN Membership

Addressing the 78th session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday, September 21, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas underlined that there can be no hope for peace in the region until Palestinians get their legitimate right to national self-determination.

“Those who think that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinian people enjoying their full and legitimate national rights would be mistaken,” he said.

Abbas also noted that Israel’s extremist government, instead of repenting for its crimes inside the occupied territories, has been bragging about its “apartheid policies on [Palestinian] people.” He claimed that the world had failed to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and deliberate violations of numerous UN resolutions.

He appealed to countries that have not yet recognized the state of Palestine to do so. Abbas also questioned them, particularly those in the West, for their reluctance to recognize the state of Palestine despite it being admitted to the UN as an observer state. He demanded full UN membership for Palestine.

Abbas called for an international peace conference on Palestine to discuss Israeli attempts against a two-state solution and persistent violations of the UN resolutions. He declared that the double standards with respect to Israel must end.

There has been no peace process in Palestine since 2014. Meanwhile, Israel has refused to adhere to UN resolutions and has even violated the 1993 Oslo agreements by expanding its illegal settlements inside the occupied territories.