Last week it was the tale of two black women in Cuba. This week it's the tale of two rappers. Well, that was fast, huh? You wrote a real good rap song, real good rap song, Jay-Z. It's all about his trip to Cuba and his transforming and enlightening experiences there. Must've wrote it on [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

"... to those brave people in Cuba who every single day resist and speak out ..." HT: Capitol Hill Cubans   SENATOR RUBIO COMMENTS ON ISSUANCE OF U.S. VISA TO RAUL CASTRO’S DAUGHTER   Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement regarding the issuance of a U.S. visa to Raul [...]

Not much is uglier than people vacationing in a Potemkin village while ignoring  human rights atrocities  right under their noses.   However, I think Congressmen Jeff Flake and Charles Rangel naming a bill allowing  just that the "Export Freedom to Cuba Act," is an affront to all those in Cuba struggling for freedom.  Ugly Americans indeed. From The Hill:  Inspired [...]

Thanks to the inimitable Paquito D'Rivera for shedding light on this phenomenon, because I've been unable to understand how it is beneficial for Americans to spend their hard-earned, and increasingly hard to acquire dollars on propaganda shows produced by tyrannical dictators who enslave their people and hate us. While it's easy to understand why the [...]

Blog Boing Boing says the U.S. State Department has plans for some new procedures for U.S. citizens looking to apply for a U.S. Passport ... I have a feeling Obama might have a slight problem getting one: Olga sez, "The U.S. Dept of State is proposing a new Biographical Questionnaire for passport applicants: proposed new [...]

What a waste ... PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A U.S. housing company is blaming Cuba for the loss of a barge loaded with supplies to build shelters for displaced earthquake survivors in Haiti. Executives with Harbor Homes LLC said late Saturday that the Cuban government denied the U.S. Coast Guard permission to enter its waters to [...]

Via our friends at Religión en Revolución:   For Immediate Release 16 February 2011 A respected Baptist pastor in Cuba has published an open letter denouncing government persecution targeting him and his church. Pastor Homero Carbonell, long-time leader of La Trinidad First Baptist Church in Santa Clara, and a high-level denominational leader, says he has been [...]

(In this Dec. 16, 2010 photo, Wilfredo Martinez Jr. of Miami writes the word 'Fragile' on a television set he is taking on his flight to Cuba at Miami ... More photos @ AP including worship at the Shrine of Saint Lazarus 2010) Cuban-Americans visiting Cuba are hauling in the mother lode of goods ... [...]

Thinking about how to best explain to Americans why they should not travel to Cuba, I remembered an article the wonderful Carlos Eire wrote for a Cuban Internet group a few years ago.  I contacted him for permission to share the article here at Babalu, and he very graciously not only gave his permission, but [...]

Capitol Hill Cubans straighten out Senator Kerry's twisted thinking: How can Senator Kerry boldly state that U.S policy has "manifestly failed" for nearly 50 years, then qualify the Clinton Administration's travel and engagement initiatives as "successful"? Wasn't Bill Clinton's presidency within the last 50 years? Wasn't Jimmy Carter's presidency -- when tourism and all other [...]

Now that Bush is gone, and we have the Peace Messiah occupying the White House, Albor Ruiz' breathless anticipation of the lifting of all travel restrictions to Cuba is palpable.  He envisions a Cuba swarming with American tourists, never mind the recalcitrant anti-casto lobby. Sadly, he doesn't mention the millions of Cubans held captive on the island [...]

Read it here. And he ain't a right wing intransigent .... so what's wrong with the rest of the hard left?  Too much time on the bong? Well what do you expect from a bunch of wankers who seem to be more interested in the President's new dog.

After seeing this photograph, those of us still in favor of travel restrictions to Cuba must reconsider our position. How can we--in good conscience--deny the septuagenarian men of America the same chance to receive love from a young, black Cuban woman? I'm afraid we have been wrong all these years. We cannot stand in the [...]