FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The 2013 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent Awarded to Ali Ferzat, Park Sang Hak, and the Ladies in White NEW YORK (May 3, 2012)- The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) today announced the recipients of the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. The 2013 laureates are: Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat, North Korean [...]

Cuba to turn over Florida couple and children? Cuba said Tuesday that it will turn over to the United States a Florida couple who allegedly kidnapped their own children from the mother's parents and fled by boat to Havana, ending days of drama that recalled the Elian Gonzalez custody battle of more than a decade [...]

When asked yesterday in the daily White House briefing about the controversial Jay-Z and Beyonce anniversary vacation to Cuba Obama's Press Sec. Jay Carney deflected responsibility to the Treasury Department... The Treasury Department "fully licensed" Beyonce and Jay Z's trip to Cuba, according to Reuters. "American pop star Beyonce and rapper husband Jay Z visited [...]

This would be laughable if the world we not so inside-out and upside-down right now... Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro warned North Korea against war on Friday, and said that it is primarily the United States’ responsibility to prevent a conflict from breaking out. Castro wrote the advice in a column — his first in [...]

Update to Alberto's previous post. (Reuters) - Cuba's best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, received a passport on Wednesday under the island's new, freer travel law and said she would go abroad soon, after years of being denied that right. Sanchez' case was viewed as a test of the Cuban government's commitment to free travel, but [...]

Whoa! Wait a minute..... I finally figured out what made all of those recent photos from Cubazuela so unsettling.   I recognized someone. Remember the novel and movie, "The Boys From Brazil"?  (Nazis successfully clone Hitler and dozens of mini-Hitlers are found in Brazi?) Well, it seems that the story line might have been taken [...]

I'll believe it when the son-of-a-bitch is in the ground. Venezuela President Hugo Chávez is now battling bone metastasis from his pelvic cancer, according to a report by Spanish newspaper ABC. Citing an unnamed intelligence source, ABC's Washington correspondent Emil J. Blasco says there has been a recurrence and spread of the tumor, which was [...]

Hey. Psst.  Looking for a great vacation?  Why not go scuba diving in Castrolandia.  Wow.  Fabulous.   Did you know that there are hardly any humans on that island?  Amazing, but true.  Just read the article below, and you won't remain a skeptic for long.   This is paradise:  you can work on your tan, [...]

USA Today's fluff piece on the "World's 10 best cities for coffee" features a stop in Havana: [...] In Cuba, coffee is basically its own food group. A vital part of each day, steaming little cups of Cafe Cubano—espresso mixed with sugar as it brews—or Coradito—espresso topped with steamed milk—mark the morning, signal the end [...]

Sorry Cal, but I think your feelings, while admirable, are clouding your judgment. Senator McGovern, who died Sunday, had all manner of evil said about him because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was called unpatriotic, disloyal, an appeaser and an enabler of communism. Those were the printable slanders. Many conservatives at the [...]

Guest post by frequent commenter Asombra I don’t much care if Fidel is dead or dying, which is more a matter of disgust than indifference. The bastard’s done what he was going to do; his death won’t undo it, and there’s no way to make him pay, no matter how horrible his death. Yes, he’s [...]

More rumors from the rumor mill... The rumor mill surrounding the health of Fidel Castro churned anew on Friday, despite a letter from the aging Cuban revolutionary published by state media and denials by relatives at home and in the United States that he is on death's door. Social media sites and some news organizations [...]

Of course, we can count on the Cuban government to keep its promises just as they've done for the last 53 plus years: The Cuban government announced Tuesday that it will no longer require islanders to apply for an exit visa, eliminating a much-loathed bureaucratic procedure that has been a major impediment for many seeking [...]

Another raft with Cuban refugees sinks, this time near Cancun: Two people drowned and at least 11 went missing, when a raft bearing 23 refugees from Cuba sank off the coast of Isla de Mujeres, near Cancun, Mexico Friday, according to immigration authorities. Ten adult survivors, nine men and one woman, were taken into custody, [...]

Relieved that their oil supply is safe, at least for now, the Castro's are busy at what they do best: Complaining about the non-existent embargo, promoting failure as accomplishment, and repressing peaceful unarmed women wearing white. From Capitol Hill Cubans: AI Concerned For Safety of Ladies in White Amnesty International Calls on Cuba to Allow [...]