Only 90 miles from American shores and with more than 11 million people living under the tyrannical yoke of a brutal and murderous dictatorship, Cuba is a source of countless stories documenting violent human rights abuses and repression. Not a day goes by that dozens of Cubans -- if not hundreds or thousands -- suffer one overt act of oppression or another. Hundreds are rotting in political prisons. Thousands awake every morning knowing their every move that day will be watched by the governments political police. Foreigners are being held hostage by the Castro regime for cash, political clout, or both.

Yet as Capitol Hill Cubans points out, none of this seems newsworthy to the international press:

Is Antonio Rodiles Not "Newsworthy"?

Why haven't any of the foreign news bureaus in Havana written about the continuous imprisonment of young Cuban pro-democracy leader Antonio Rodiles, founder of the civil society project Estado de Sats?

Or how about the continuous imprisonment of independent journalist Calixto Martinez Arias, who broke the news of a cholera outbreak weeks after the Castro regime declared it eradicated and discovered shipments of spoiled medicines and other humanitarian aid at Havana's airport?

Or for that matter, how about Sonia Garro, an Afro-Cuban member of the Ladies in White imprisoned without charges or trial since Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Cuba in March?

Are they not newsworthy?

So what exactly is newsworthy to the international news agencies?

Our very own NBC News gives us a glimpse in their latest hard-hitting journalistic exposé from Havana:

Voluminous Dance features plus-size dancers in Cuba

There you have it: What is and what is not newsworthy in Cuba.