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Is Obama talking secretly with Raul Castro? August 30, 2008 By Humberto Fontova "As I left Havana earlier this month," writes Dr. Rens Lee, senior fellow at Philadelphia's prestigious Foreign Policy Research Institute, "Cuba was eagerly awaiting the United States' November presidential elections. The buzz around the capital, reportedly from a highly placed source, was that Barack Obama has already talked to Raul Castro by phone." (Note: I notified the Obama campaign of these claims and asked for a response or clarification. It has not responded.) Dr. Rens Lee explains that the buzz was reported by both highly placed Cuban...

As I was 'channel surfing' at my grandmother's house in San Juan this past weekend, I came upon TeleSUR, the new Hugo Chavez T.V. venture, live from Caracas. The programming I saw -- after enduring a cooking show featuring how to make 'arepas', the equivalent in Venezuela of 'pancakes' -- started with anti-U.S., anti-'Imperialists', anti-Bush, et.al. from their news proogramming dept. and then, in the entertainment dept., a segment featuring a musician named Rene Calle 13, who basically told the audience: "F*ck George Bush, he's the worse president ever". Here in the U.S. we have Al Jazeera and other international...

ON June 4, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented her annual report on human trafficking for 2008, in which, for the sixth consecutive year, the United States government included Cuba among the countries it accuses of not making significant efforts to confront the alleged trafficking of women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and described our country as a sexual tourism destination, among other serious and unfounded accusations. For the first time, the imperial power also decided to include in this report several recommendations to the Cuban government as to how to confront the phenomenon. At the...

LONDON, June 4 -- For much of the world, Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the Democratic primaries was a moment to admire the United States, at a time when the nation's image abroad has been seriously damaged. From hundreds of supporters crowded around televisions in rural Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland, to jubilant Britons writing "WE DID IT!" on the "Brits for Barack" site on Facebook, people celebrated what they called an important racial and generational milestone for the United States. "This is close to a miracle. I was certain that some things will not happen in my lifetime," said Sunila...

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has drawn criticism from some Cuban Americans who disagree with his policy on negotiating with U.S. enemies. The Washington Times reported Sunday that the Illinois senator will likely have to defend his policy this week when he meets with the Cuban American National Foundation, in his first campaign stop in Florida in nine months. Obama has said that if elected president he would hold direct talks with hostile governments, including Cuba's communist leaders. In addition to holding talks with Cuban leaders including President Raul Castro, Obama has said if elected he would relax restrictions on...

HAVANA - Raul Castro's government opened luxury hotels and resorts to all Cubans Monday, ending a ban despised across the island as "tourist apartheid" and taking another step toward the creation of a consumer economy in the socialist state. ADVERTISEMENT Cuba has made a series of crowd-pleasing announcements in the past few days. Cubans with enough cash will be able to buy computers, DVD players and plasma televisions starting Tuesday, and soon they'll even be able to have their own cell phones — consumer goods only companies and foreigners were previously permitted to buy. But the latest surprise, allowing ordinary...

Cuba’s Not So Bright Future by: Bethany Stotts, March 05, 2008 ...Yale Professor Carlos M. N. Eire, who teaches history and religious studies, decided to put in his own two cents..... “What many of the news media fail to take into account is that Cuba is a highly abnormal place that doesn’t run by the same rules as the rest of the world,” replied Eire...“When a different generation takes control and gets the power, changes happen. I think what it will take [in Cuba] is for this generation to die out,” he told the Herald. Raúl Castro expert Brian Latell,...

Here in Ithaca and no doubt in other liberal bastions across the land, you can still see cars festooned with those bitter bumper stickers: "Re-Defeat Bush!" and "Bush: Selected, Not Elected!" Those sentiments remain reflected in an MSM still smarting from Florida 2000. All of which made Ann Curry's words on this morning's Today, announcing the ascendancy of Raul Castro in Cuba, so ironic. ANN CURRY: In the news this morning, we begin with Cuba and its new president in nearly half a century. Raul Castro was officially chosen on Sunday to take over from his brother Fidel who announced...

As expected, the Cuban national assembly rubber-stamped Raul Castro as his brother Fidel's replacement as dictator of the island nation. However, instead of keeping Carlos Lage in the ceremonial post of vice-president, or perhaps grooming a successor to the septuagenarian Raul, they picked a man older than Raul as his backup: Cuba's parliament named Raul Castro president on Sunday, ending nearly 50 years of rule by his brother Fidel but leaving the island's communist system unshaken. In a surprise move, officials bypassed younger candidates to name a 77-year-old revolutionary leader, Jose Ramon Machado, to Cuba's No. 2 spot — apparently...

Cuba freed four dissidents jailed in 2003 as a way to mollify human-rights critics. After their arrival in Spain following their release, the four explained how bad it got for them in Cuban prisons, and held out little hope that Fidel Castro's retirement would improve conditions for Cubans: Four dissidents freed this week after five years in inhumane conditions in a Cuban prison have revealed the dark side of Fidel Castro’s regime. The four - José Gabriel Ramón Castillo, Omar Pernet Hernández, Alejandro González and Pedro Pablo Álvarez - described regular beatings, humiliation and arbitrary punishment with long periods of...

Are we seeing the first indications that a Raul Castro-led Cuba will want warmer relations with the US? Yesterday, Brazil's Folha de Sao Paulo reported that Raul thanked Hugo Chavez for assisting Cuba, but thinks that US-friendly Brazil makes a better dance partner for the future (via Brian Faughnan): The newspaper reports that during the January Brazilian presidential visit to Havana, Raul Castro praised Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez for having helped Cuba “in a particularly tough moment of the ongoing confrontation with the United States George W Bush administration”. Nevertheless Fidel Castro brother is quoted saying that Brazil “is a...

HAVANA - Acting President Raul Castro — not his older brother Fidel — was the top vote-getter in Cuban parliamentary elections, according to official results Wednesday. Bespectacled, camera shy and far less charismatic than Cuba's ailing long-time leader, the 76-year-old Raul received 99.4 percent of votes cast in the family's base of Santiago in eastern Cuba — a percentage point more than Fidel got. Both brothers easily won re-election to the rubber-stamp legislature known as the National Assembly of Popular Power, as did all of the 614 candidates presented to the island's 8.4 million voters on Jan. 20. The unopposed...

Down on the ranch, the talk among the cattle hands is that help is on its way. And it could not come sooner for Cuba's state-owned agriculture, where production has slumped for years and weeds are taking over unused fields. Roasting a pig over a fire amid the dust and flies, ranch manager Manolo sips rum and gazes out over the pastures of the farming cooperative where he has worked for a decade. "A year ago I sold 22 head of cattle to the state for 18,000 pesos. This year the same number brought more than 60,000," he said. That...

Raúl Castro has started to make cautious changes in Cuba which could signal plans for political and economic reform. Since he took over from his brother Fidel, dozens of dissidents have been released, an olive branch has been extended to Washington and there is talk of easing communist controls on property and agricultural production. Three political prisoners have been freed in the past fortnight, the latest being Armando Betancourt Reina, a journalist jailed for 15 months after reporting on the eviction of a family in Camagüey. Analysts said Raúl, 76, who has been acting president since illness forced his brother...

CAMAGUEY, Cuba (AP) - Cuba’s acting president Raul Castro recently stated that Cuba has avoided the collapse the U.S. predicted when his brother Fidel Castro fell ill a year ago, and signaled he was willing to talk with a new American administration after President Bush leaves power. Mr. Castro said the island suffered “a hard blow” when Fidel relinquished power last year, but he focused more on the future while addressing tens of thousands of loyalists recently celebrating Cuba’s Revolution Day. “These have truly been difficult moments, although with a diametrically different impact than that expected by our enemies, who...

HAVANA (Reuters) - Eleven months after Cuban leader Fidel Castro handed over power to his brother, Cuba continues to trample on civil liberties, though the number of political prisoners has fallen, a rights group said on Thursday. The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said the number of Cubans in jail for political reasons dropped from 283 to 246 in the first half of the year. But the rights situation has not improved under acting President Raul Castro, who took over the government on July 31 after his 80-year-old brother underwent bowel surgery, the commission said in a...

In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, Cuba's Acting President Raul Castro, left, welcomes China's Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan during their meeting to discuss relations between the two communist-run countries Friday, May 11, 2007 in Havana, Cuba. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yin Yongjian)

The US coast guard is staging a huge exercise in Florida in preparation for a possible mass exodus from Cuba in the event of the death of Fidel Castro.More than 300 agents and 85 law enforcement agencies are taking part in the two-day Operation Vigilant Sentry. Actors are playing imaginary Cuban migrants in mock interceptions. The operation has taken on a renewed urgency since President Castro fell ill and handed temporary power to his brother Raul last July. President Castro recently spoke in a live broadcast with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, but has not been seen in public...

In his first major policy initiative since assuming power, Gen. Raúl Castro signed a far-reaching military-aid agreement with Russia. In September, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, visited Cuba and signed an economic-aid pact providing Castro with $350 million in credits to upgrade Cuba's armed forces, including the acquisition of Russian transportation equipment, air-navigation systems, industrial goods for the energy sector and financing of future Russian investments in Cuba, among other projects. Fradkov met with Raúl Castro in a climate described as ''cordial and friendly'' by the Cuban press. This accord with the Russians rounds out Cuba's international alliances with key...

CUBA'S communist interim leader Raul Castro, in a shift from the tack of his ailing brother Fidel Castro, has overnight pushed for negotiations with the United States to end decades of tense ties. "Let me take this opportunity to express our willingness to settle the long US-Cuba disagreement at the negotiating table," Raul Castro told troops at Cuba's first military parade in a decade. "Of course, that is, as long as they accept that we are a country that does not tolerate any reduction of its independence, and based on the principles of equality, reciprocity, non interference and mutual respect,"...

HAVANA - The ailing Fidel Castro is not dying but is recovering from an illness, his younger brother and Cuba's acting president said Sunday in response to rumors that the leader was on his deathbed. Raul Castro, who has been standing in for his brother since July 31, was responding to recent reports including one in Time magazine that said Castro apparently has terminal cancer. Castro is recovering from intestinal surgery but the lack of details from the Cuban government regarding the nature of his illness has sparked a number of rumors about his health. "He is not dying like...

Posted on Fri, Sep. 15, 2006 Raul Castro's wife rumored to be seriously ill By Frances Robles McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) MIAMI - As Raul Castro rules Havana while his brother Fidel recovers from surgery, Cuba watchers say Raul's longtime wife, Vilma Espin is also believed to be seriously ill. Although there's been no official word out of Cuba, reports of Espin's illness have been making the rounds in South Florida as the woman who often served as the island's first lady misses more and more important events. Espin has been president of president of the Cuban Federation of Women for...

HAVANA - Acting President Raul Castro said Cuba remains open to normalized relations with the United States, but warned the Bush administration in his first comments since assuming power that it will get nowhere with threats or pressure. Raul Castro also said in Friday editions of the island's Communist Party newspaper that he had mobilized tens of thousands of troops in response to what he called aggressive U.S. acts, including stepped-up radio and television broadcasts to the island, and an $80 million plan to hasten the end of the Castros' rule. "Some of the empire's war hawks thought that the...

Nearly two week ago, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell suggested hard-line Communist Raul Castro really did have a soft spot for capitalism. “Raul has been in charge of the military and the economy,” Mitchell explained to the August 2 “Today” show audience, calling Fidel’s younger brother “politically hard-line but more open than his brother to free enterprise, including foreign investment.” She might be on to something, after all. “Federal prosecutors in Miami were prepared to indict Raul Castro as the head of a major cocaine smuggling conspiracy in 1993, but the Clinton Administration Justice Department overruled them, current and former Justice Department...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro's younger brother, Raul, made his first public appearance as Cuba's interim president Sunday, receiving Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Havana airport. Chavez arrived to celebrate the elder Castro's 80th birthday. Earlier, Fidel Castro cautioned Cubans that he faced a long recovery from surgery and advised them to prepare for "adverse news," but he urged them to stay optimistic. Castro said his health had improved since an unspecified intestinal ailment forced him to step aside as president two weeks ago, but he warned that risks remain. "I feel very happy," said a statement attributed to Castro...

Mexico City, Jul 26 (EFE).- Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told the biggest Spanish-language television network in the United States that he is president of Mexico "by the will of the majority," though election authorities have yet to rule on his challenge of results that gave the victory to his conservative opponent. Officials results showed Felipe Calderon with an advantage of 0.58 percent over Lopez Obrador in the July 2 balloting, but the leftist is demanding a vote-by-vote recount. Mexico's electoral tribunal has until Sept. 6 to declare who will be sworn-in Dec. 1 to succeed conservative incumbent Vicente Fox...

Havana - Cuba refused entry to more than 150 foreign journalists trying to enter the country as tourists this week in order to report on the the illness of President Fidel Castro, diplomatic sources in Havana indicated Thursday. As in other countries, journalists need a work visa to report legally from Cuba. 'Across the whole world there is currently great interest (in Cuba), but nowhere on the planet can a journalist report with a tourist visa,' said a representative of the International Press Centre (CPI), which relies on the Cuban Foreign Ministry to gain access to the country. The Havana...

MIAMI, Aug 3 (Reuters) - When will Fidel Castro die? If you want to, you can place your bets. Since the Cuban president, one of the world's longest-serving leaders, announced on Monday he was handing power to his brother Raul, online wagering operations have offered action on the communist leader's fate.

by Mark Finkelstein August 1, 2006 - 12:12 We're #156! Cuba, that is, in this CIA ranking of per capita income of the world's countries. Cuba trails such economic powerhouses as Guyana, Micronesia and, of course, Niue. But, hey, it's a full $200 ahead of basket-case Angola! But economic beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. To the Associated Press, the Cuban economy, with a litle help from designated Fidel-successor Raul, is 'successful.' Here's an excerpt from an AP article of today [hat tip to Drudge]: "Raul has been deeply involved . . . with the military's successful peacetime...

It is moments like this, when Castro is on death's door and has to relinquish power to his brother, that the TRUE colors of the DUmmies and KOmmies come out. And that color is very distinctly Bolshevik Red as you can see in this DUmmie THREAD and this Daily Kos KOmmie THREAD fondly remembering that great "progressive" leader, Fidel Castro. This DUFU edition demonstrates that beneath that very thin veneer of "support" for democratic institutions, both the DUmmies and the KOmmies support totalitarian regimes. So let us now watch the DUmmies and KOmmies praise El Comandante in Bolshevik Red...

Cuban President Fidel Castro is transferring power provisionally to brother Raul while he undergoes an operation, Cuban TV announces.

Latin Americans cement left alliance Sat Apr 29, 2006 6:25 PM ET By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - Leftist leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia on Saturday signed a comprehensive integration agreement and trade accord cast as an alternative to U.S. plans for a free-trade pact with the Latin American region. Bolivian President Evo Morales signed on to a year-old political, social and economic integration agreement between Cuba and Venezuela dubbed the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, after South American independence hero Simon Bolivar. The accord gives Cuba preferential financing for Venezuelan oil and payment for services of...

Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro met with Colonel General Xu Caihou, Head of the General Political Department of China’s People’s Liberation Army. During the meeting both Fidel and Xu agreed that the visit by the Chinese delegation to the island strengthens bilateral relations between both nations, governments and armed forces. Xu Caihou also met with Cuban Armed Forces Minister, Army General Raul Castro and gave him a friendly message of greetings from Chinese top authorities. In his meeting with Raul Castro, the Chinese visitor stressed the experience of the Cuba armed institution and the population in their preparation for defense and their...

Notwithstanding former President Jimmy Carter's recent statement to the contrary, Undersecretary of State John Bolton's remarks about Cuba's biological weapons capabilities underscore lingering concerns with the rogue island only 90 miles from the United States. Bolton, on May 6, told an audience at the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation that the U.S. is suspicious about Cuban biomedical laboratories and their ability to transfer biological weapons technology to Iraq, Syria and Libya, all countries that Cuban President Fidel Castro visited last year. Bolton also made remarks, which may be interpreted as a clear signal of hardening State Department policy toward Cuba, faulting...

Cubans asked to declare Castro socialism 'untouchable' in future Fri Jun 14, 7:02 PM ETBy ANITA SNOW, Associated Press Writer HAVANA - Millions of Cubans are being asked to publicly affirm Fidel Castro's four-decade-old socialist system as "untouchable" in a government campaign defying calls for democratic reforms. Over four days beginning Saturday, all Cubans 16 years of age and older will be asked to sign a petition saying they support a constitutional amendment declaring the nation's economic, political and social systems "untouchable" — meaning they cannot be changed. Opposition activists say the effort is Castro's answer to their own civil...