Raul Castro News

It's time to end the counterproductive sanctions against Cuba, which have only served to strengthen its brutal regime Raul Castro, who took over as Cuba's president in 2006.

HAVANA: Nearly 50 years after a botched US-directed invasion of Cuba, the communist nation said yesterday it is holding a military exercise next week to boost preparedness against any future US attack.

The husband of an acclaimed dissident Cuban blogger was punched and shouted down by a pro-government mob Friday after he challenged the presumed state agents who earlier roughed up his wife to a street corner debate.

Published: Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 12:12 a.m. Last Modified: Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 3:07 a.m. WASHINGTON At a tempestuous hearing, one House member after another criticized a growing campaign to lift the ban on American tourists traveling to Cuba.

Raul Castro's government has locked up scores of people in Cuba for exercising their fundamental freedoms and allowed scores of political prisoners arrested during Fidel Castro's rule to languish in detention, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Friday.

THE FUNDAMENTAL fallacy underlying US policy toward Cuba is that isolation forces transformation.

In an unusual written response to Yoani Sanchez, who has gained international acclaim for daring to criticize her government online, Obama also said it is up to Cuba to act if it wants normal relations with Washington, saying that a true thaw in nearly 50 years of deep-freeze "will require action by the Cuban government." His comments were posted ...

Laborers work on a building in Havana' old quarters. A report released today by Human Rights Watch on the human rights situation in Cuba takes the government of President Raul Castro to task for, among other things, jailing those without jobs.

Chairman Howard L. Berman U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs 2170 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr.

Human Rights Watch says conditions in Cuba have not improved under Raul Castro and in some ways are worse than they had been when his brother Fidel was president.

Supporters of the U.S. embargo against Cuba have contributed nearly $11 million to members of Congress since 2004 in a largely successful effort to block efforts to weaken sanctions against the island, a new report shows.

Any good will Raul Castro enjoyed as Cuba's new leader has dissipated, according to a new poll, which found more than four out of five of those surveyed in Cuba were unhappy with the direction of the country.

Tom Stoppard's smart, provocative plays are magnets for audiences who crave theater that sparks both thought and emotion -- and for artists who relish the bottomless challenge of bringing the playwright's rich worlds to life.

Facing what government officials call a "critical" energy shortage, Cuba has ordered its state enterprises to take "extreme measures" to cut back its fuel consumption through the end of the year, Reuters reported.

The U.S. State Department has told Cuba it deplores last week's assault' on blogger Yoani Sanchez, one of the toughest of several expressions of support for the Havana writer.

Cuba's potato revolution Cuban farmers pile up sacks of sweet potatoes in Guira de Melena village, 40km south of Havana, on October 20, 2008.

The pitcher who helped Cuba defeat the Baltimore Orioles in the United States a decade ago is in stable condition after his face was crushed with a blunt object while trying to stop a fight.

Cuba's state-run economy has been in crisis mode for years, but it's facing some especially sobering arithmetic now.

The Cuban flag stands outside a hotel of the Spanish Melia hotel chain in Havana March 17, 2008.

" Cuban authorities should cease all attacks on human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers and civic activists, Human Rights Watch said today.