Puerto Rican ‘solidarity’ group says FBI targeting it
Members of a Puerto Rican anti-embargo group that spent a month in Cuba and were VIP guests at the recent official July 26 celebration say that FBI agents contacted them seeking information about their trip.
Milagros Rivera, the head of the Cuba Solidarity Committee in Puerto Rico, told Cuban state news agency Prensa Latina that members of the Solidarity Brigade “Juan Rius Rivera” were visited by FBI agents who wanted to interview them “informally” regarding their July trip to the island.
She said they asked about a minor who traveled with her mother as part of the brigade, “information that they did not obtain,” she said.
The activist told Cuban state media that human rights lawyers advised the group not to talk to the agents. She called the FBI efforts an attempt to “criminalize solidarity work and visits to Cuba.”
Rivera did not immediately reply to an email seeking comments. Calls to the FBI’s office in Puerto Rico went unanswered.
Cuba leader Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the “harassment” against the brigade on Twitter.
It is not clear why the activities of the brigade are under the FBI radar. The group, which took the name of a revolutionary leader from Puerto Rico who fought in Cuba’s independence wars, has been traveling to Cuba for three decades.
—Miami Herald
Several injured during roller coaster ride, report says
A wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey was shut down Thursday night after a group of riders, five of whom were hospitalized, complained of back pain.
El Toro, a 19-story coaster with a 176-foot drop, was closed for inspection after the injuries were reported Thursday evening, an amusement park spokesperson told the Asbury Park Press. Jackson Township Police officers did not respond, but several first aid teams were dispatched to the scene.
The incident comes a year after the ride was closed down due to a partial derailment on June 29, 2021, according to the newspaper. It was caused by the rear-up wheel — which prevents the train’s cars from toppling — lifting off of the top of the rail. No Six Flags guests were injured, but the popular roller coaster was “red-tagged” and placed under an engineering review by the state Department of Community Affairs.
After months of testing, inspections and reviews, the ride was deemed safe for visitors and reopened earlier this summer.
El Toro, which means “the bull” in Spanish, first opened at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson in 2006. It reaches maximum speeds of 70 miles per hour, and has the second-largest drop height of wooden roller coasters nationwide. Goliath at Six Flags Great America in Chicago has the largest drop height.
—New York Daily News
Vice President Harris to attend Artemis moon launch
ORLANDO, Fla. — Vice President Kamala Harris plans to attend the launch of the Artemis I moon rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Monday, according to a release from the White House.
Harris and second gentlemen Doug Emhoff will be on hand with Harris delivering remarks ahead of the planned liftoff during a two-hour window that opens at 8:33 a.m. Harris is the chair of the National Space Council that helps inform President Joe Biden on space policy.
She will also tour the space center to view some of the hardware on hand for the Artemis II and III missions that expect to return humans to orbit the moon in 2024 and return humans including the first woman in 2025 to the lunar surface for the first since the last Apollo landing nearly 50 years ago.
Two of the Apollo program astronauts are also expected to be on site including one of the last men to walk on the moon, Harrison Schmitt, who flew on Apollo 17 and left the lunar surface on Dec. 14, 1972. Also on hand will be Apollo 10 astronaut Thomas Stafford. Apollo 7 astronaut Walter Cunningham had planned to attend, but NASA officials said he can no longer make it.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and other officials will be at Kennedy, but names of other celebrities who may actually attend the launch have not been released.
—Orlando Sentinel
Diplomat accused of NY rape ‘recalled’ to South Sudan
NEW YORK — The South Sudan diplomat accused of raping a woman in Washington Heights has been recalled to his native country, according to a statement from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Charles Oliha, 46, managed to dodge a rape charge because of his diplomatic status after being briefly detained by police Sunday night.
By Thursday, he was back in North Africa, some 6,000 miles away from New York City, members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed.
“The leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation took the decision to immediately recall the diplomat in question, pending a full investigation from a specialized committee,” the ministry said.
Oliha has been “suspended from his duties, awaiting the outcome of this investigation,” the ministry noted.
“It is with regret that our diplomat was involved with an alleged rape incident with one of New York City (sic) residents,” the diplomatic office said.
—New York Daily News
