In thinking of today's anniversary of the Cuban Black Spring crackdown, I arrive at a very non-political concept: the concept of human suffering. Christians believe that suffering is an essential part of our human existence, not as a exercise in masochism, but as a way to reflect on our imperfections and get closer to God. [...]

As Marco Rubio continues to face heavy scrutiny over everything from his record on taxes and illegal immigration, to his use of a GOP credit card in which all charged personal expenses were paid back by Rubio, his record as a lobbyist and past associations with controversial figures like Ray Samson, it's understandable and even [...]

Although, as Val posted yesterday, the South Florida media has been largely silent on the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, its two big daily newspapers have not.
Here's the Miami Herald's editorial from yesterday. And the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's published today can be found here.

Kathleen Hughes' Wall Street Journal article on her Cuban-American husband Daniel Bethencourt's return to his childhood home in Havana during a recent family trip to Cuba is a familiar one to many Cuban-Americans. However, no matter how familiar these stories of seeing relatives for the first time in 50 years, or seeing your childhood home [...]

OK, folks. Brace yourselves.
In an interesting and winding op-ed piece in the Miami Herald, Marifeli Perez-Stable tries to make her point on why the European Union's "Common Position" (CP) on Cuba should be eliminated. I won't bother with the back-and-forth arguments Perez-Stable lays out in trying to look at the issue from both sides (if [...]

A nice column by Myriam Marquez of the Miami Herald (yes, THAT Herald) published last Sunday reminding us that evil can't be negotiated with:

Two wise men who stood up to evil brought their seedlings of hope and peace and planted them firmly on Miami soil. Stand your ground, don't give up, keep pushing for what's [...]

Piggy-backing a little off Val's post below, I'd like to highlight a couple of telling quotes from the Herald article Val references (BTW, the Herald piece is about as balanced as we can hope for from the MSM).
Most of the article is made up of rather mundane accounts of Cuban musicians receiving under-the-table payments for [...]

(Cross-posted from Searching for Signs)
The difference between confidence and arrogance, to me, can be summed up rather simply. Confidence is walking the walk; not only trusting your beliefs but acting them out. It does not step on toes or send mixed signals because words and action intersect. Arrogance is all talk and little action; failing [...]

Cuba hasn't escaped the chilly temperatures which have invaded Florida the past several days. But that's not all that's cold in Havana.
Remember the promise of better U.S. - Cuba relations in the age of Obama? Well, according to Reuters, you can pretty much forget about that.

After a year of relative civility and cautious praise for [...]

(This is the latest revision of a Veteran's Day piece I posted back in 2005 and 2007)
Veteran's Day has always held a special place in my heart. I'm far from being alone in feeling this way, but please allow me to feel a sense of personal pride on this day. The reason for this is [...]

If there's anything that's been positive about all the pro-dialogue and openness attitude toward Cuba in the era of Obama, it's that more and more people are beginning to realize what we crazy exiles have known all along:
Dealing with castro, Inc. isn't the same as dealing with your neighbor or your local businessperson.
As further evidence [...]

Amnesty International released a report earlier this week indicating that the U.S. and its embargo is responsible for the deterioration of health in Cuba. I was going to post some personal thoughts on this, but after reading this piece by Sylvia Longmire at Dallas-based Examiner.com, I figured I'd let her explain instead:
Unfortunately, the Amnesty report [...]

So says Jaime Suchlicki of the Institute of Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami in an article published in the Latin American Herald Tribune.
Cubans are too “intimidated” by the communist regime to rebel over the measures announced to deal with the grave economic crisis the island is going through, a U.S. [...]

A letter to the Miami Herald written by Andy Gomez of the Institute of Cuba and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami and published in today's Herald:

After reading Fidel Castro's last ``reflection,'' I thought it was time that someone wrote him one and briefly analyze his revolution:
Since becoming ill in July 2006 and transferring [...]

The Miami Herald has special coverage of Operation Pedro Pan in today's online and print versions.
Check it out here.
The articles and columns are good from what I could peruse. I'm perfectly aware of the Herald's frequently-biased and flawed coverage of Cuba-related news. But let's also give credit when credit is due. No other MSM outlet [...]

I had the pleasure of spend some time at the Babalu booth over at Cuba Nostalgia last night. As usual, it was great to catch up with all of our favorite Babalu contributors, founding editors and friends.
As I looked around the display, my attention was diverted more than once to the posts printed on canvas [...]

Rep. Bobby Rush, Congressional Black Caucus member who was part of the Clueless Seven that visited Cuba recently for a friendly chat with the castros, feels the need to tell us the rest of the story regarding his participation in that boondogle of a trip to Cuba. I'm sure all the heat he's received over [...]

While debating the merits of opening relations with Cuba on a local blog, I dug up an article by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs from last July which was gushingly optimistic about the European Union's lifting of sanctions against Cuba being a sort of "turning point" for Cuba.
Well, time is usually a good arbiter, so [...]

Andres Oppenheimer seems to take the middle road in his Sunday Herald column which basically states that although it's probably a good idea to lift the travel ban on American tourists to Cuba, it should only be done if coupled with a diplomatic offensive to "press Cuba to allow fundamental freedoms".
I appreciate Oppenheimer's desire for [...]

Our three esteemed Republican Cuban-American congress-men and woman were among 10 Republicans to vote in favor of imposing government limits on compensation and bonuses to bailed-out bank employees. The measures, according to the proposed bill, would cover non-performance based compensation.
That last sentence is important. Non-performance based compensation. Can anyone explain exactly what constitutes non-performance based [...]