Havana, Cuba News

Ole! When I opened up my San Francisco Chronicle one day, lo and behold I found an advertisement saying "Join the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce exclusive nine-day, eight night guided Cultural Exchange Trip to Havana, Cuba." Having always been interested in countries that have heretofore been closed to public scrutiny, this piqued my antennae.

Workbench Guy Wire Milestones Roots of Radio Day in the Life Wired for Sound RF Safety Road Warrior Green Radio Certification Corner The Last Word A recent article by Hans Johnson about " Robert Williams' Odyssey in Cuba " brought back fond memories of listening to the AM band during those cold winter nights in New Jersey.

I have - most recently to Cuba's crumbling capital during the 11th Havana Biennal , a contemporary art exhibition that takes place here every two years.

Ziva Sahl : "Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees.

Ruben Alpizar never met the American collector who fell in love with his painting of a plummeting Icarus against a starry background, hanging on the wall of a Spanish colonial-era fortress across the bay from Havana.

The elderly cigar maker sits at a rustic table next to a tobacco field and a barn filled with hanging rows of aging tobacco and meticulously selects the brown leaves, rolling the most tender ones carefully for the center of the world's most celebrated tobacco product: the Cuban cigar.

Cuba has one of the world's smallest AIDS epidemics. Its harsh early tactics - until 1993, everyone who tested positive for H.I.V. was forced into quarantine - has succeeded: the country now has a mere 14,038 cases.

In this Jan. 22, 2011 file photo, people stand on a breakwater, with a Venezuelan flag, left, and a Cuban flag, as a specialized ship rolls out a fiber-optic cable, suspended from buoys, off La Guaira, Venezuelan coast.

In this May 9, 2012 photo, a man leaves a state-run computer center in Havana, Cuba.

The Ladies in White meeting with the archbishop of Santiago went much more smoothly than their encounter with the archbishop of Havana.

H. Bruce Franklin remembers Romney from his Stanford days and lays out exactly how he and his father ensured he would evade service in the war which, at Stanford, he was demonstrating for.

Foreign art lovers are breaking bread with Cuban waiters, drivers and parking lot attendants this week in a unique experience that forces diners and chefs alike to overcome barriers of culture, language and five-plus decades of animosity between Washington and Havana.

Over the years Fredericksburg musicians have been working together to grow the music scene, collaborate, get the word out about live music, and preserve live, creative art.

Fidel Castro's niece on Wednesday hailed Barack Obama's support for gay marriage and the loosening of US-Cuba travel restrictions, saying: "I would vote for President Obama." Mariela Castro, the daughter of President Raul Castro, also lamented the "small group of delinquents" whom she said were preventing the warming of ties between Washington and ... (more)

Josh Hutcherson stars in the Cuban film directed by Croisette alumni including Laurent Cantet, Gaspard Noe and Elia Suleiman, as well as Benicio Del Toro.

Amaury Torres has a dream. I have one, too. OK, so his is far more inspirational, starting in 1994 on a raft leaving Havana, Cuba, and traveling through GuantA namo, Panama and Miami before ending up on Highway 14 in the San Marcos area south of Santa Fe.

But Mariela Castro, a married mother of three and member of Cuba's most powerful family, has paved her own way in making gay rights her life's cause.

The year 1980 in Miami was a time of intrigue and euphoria, a year when emotions in the local Cuban community rode a roller coaster.

Just in time for summer, the new SUPER Flat Top Havana Sunglasses by Union L.A. is ready to hit stores.

One recent day I was at the beach on a very hot and sunny day in the province of Matanzas, east of Havana, when a group of tourists arrived in a bus.