PBS WIDE ANGLE correspondent Aaron Brown will host a live debate on Blog Talk Radio this Thursday at 11:00 a.m. EST. The topic: should the U.S. lift the trade embargo on Cuba? The standard positions in favor of lifting the embargo are (1) it has failed to achieve its objective of regime change, (2) the […]
Over the years of the embargo, relationships between states/cities in the United States and counterparts in Cuba have sprung up. Now, as legislation to dismantle travel restrictions and embargo regulations makes its way through the halls of Congress, a number of state and local leaders are asserting themselves in favor of a more open relationship […]
Raúl Castro proclaimed last week that no one should expect Cuba to change its political and social system; Cuba will remain socialist/communist. But he and top economists do foresee a great overhaul of the system. NPR reported: Rafael Hernandez, editor of the quarterly journal Temas in Havana, says Raul Castro is attempting to transform the Cuban […]
The yearly two month Cold War between Colombia and Venezuela has come this summer amidst talks between the US and Colombia to place approximately seven US bases in Colombian territory in order to aid US anti-drugs forces. A week ago as a response, Venezuela withdrew its ambassador from Colombia and is threatening to restrict trade […]
Yesterday, the state-run Cuban newspaper (Granma) charged the United States with spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “subversion” in Cuba and elsewhere in the Americas, especially in those countries that are members of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas. The article noted, “U.S. investments meant to facilitate annexing Cuba not only have not […]
The “War on Drugs” and the “War on Terror” over the years have both contributed to wearing out a metaphor that was already nearly useless: how can one tell when the war against an abstract concept or an undefined enemy is won or lost? For years, U.S. administrations have employed a similarly troublesome concept in […]
This Saturday will mark the launch of a puzzling (and oddly intriguing) book, El Diccionario de Pensamientos de Fidel Castro—that is, the “Dictionary of Thoughts of Fidel Castro.” How does one alphabetize thoughts? The Cuban state newspaper Granma reported that the volume alphabetizes “key criteria and concepts expressed by the Commander-in-Chief” and provides helpful detail on […]
“We are ready to talk about everything, but not to negotiate our political and social system.” On Saturday, Raúl Castro spoke these words at a National Assembly meeting, and further explained, “It’s true there has been a diminution of the aggression and anti-Cuban rhetoric on the part of the [Obama] administration.” President Castro had previously indicated […]
Archibald Ritter of the Canadian Foundation for the Americas speaks about Cuba-Canada relations in this video. He says that Canada’s policy toward the island has long been “correct” (presumably as opposed to U.S. policy and the policy of exclusion followed by most of the hemisphere for years). Ritter also pointed out that Canadian agricultural trade […]
Raúl Castro postponed on Friday what would be the first Communist Party congress in twelve years. The meeting was to take place by the end of this year, and Castro has not yet set a new date. His reason? The Party must still make a great many preparations—including analyzing current economic conditions to see, as Castro […]
Cuba to create agency to fight corruption “cancer” Cuba’s National Assembly will set up a powerful new agency on Saturday tasked with fighting corruption, which President Raul Castro has called a “deadly cancer” plaguing the communist-ruled island’s economy. Official information on corruption in Cuba is sparse but, in 2000, Attorney General Juan Escalona, testifying before […]
Several years ago, the U.S. Interests Section in Havana—which functions as the American diplomatic mission in Cuba in the absence of formal relations—installed a “billboard” along the fifth floor of the building: an electronic news ticker running pro-democracy and anti-Castro regime messages in bright crimson letters. Fidel Castro at that time called it “a gross […]
The Cuban economy is certainly suffering, so much so that Raúl Castro told citizens on Sunday to brace themselves for the tough times to get worse in the short-term, but the Cuban state is not letting such difficulties impede investment in one of its most highly-regarded assets—education. Teachers and other educational professionals will receive raises of […]
Over the years, buying and selling en la calle—in the street—has been practiced by generations of Cubans trying to make ends meet. Many of the goods sold on the vast black market come from government stores or from abroad. Now they can be sold via internet on Revolico.com, a fascinating development in a country where […]
On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro led a small group of armed rebels/revolutionaries in an attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. They were easily defeated, and so failed in their immediate goal of surprising the soldiers within and taking arms for the rebel movement. But the day itself is now widely recognized […]