Fan Fidel Hails 'Sincere' Obama

Cuban prez slams US over arrested contractor

(NEWSER) - Raul Castro signaled that his honeymoon with the Obama administration is over in an angry speech yesterday accusing the US of stepping up its effort to topple the country's Communist government. "The enemy is as active as always," said Castro, pointing to the Cuba's recent detention of an American citizen for distributing communications equipment to opposition groups. More»

Ex-prez puts a chill on warming relations between US, Cuba

(NEWSER) - What President Obama took to be a historic overture from Cuba was actually just a misunderstanding, according to Fidel Castro. The former president—apparently enraged by suggestions that Cuba make concessions in return for improved US-Cuban relations—wrote in his online column that Obama "misinterpreted" his brother Raul's statement that Cuban leaders would be willing to discuss everything, including human rights, reports the AP. More»

Castro replaced 'pugnacious' minister with diplomat

(NEWSER) - Raul Castro’s overhaul of Cuban ministers may be meant to ease tensions with the US under President Obama, writes Tim Padgett in Time. Cuba’s president replaced a “pugnacious” former foreign minister who had close ties to Fidel with a longtime UN ambassador—and the move occurred the same week the Senate votes on legislation that could relax the trade embargo. More»

(NEWSER) - The Cuban embargo has failed to encourage democracy there, and the president-elect should do something about it, writes Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post. It's time to “bring five decades of counterproductive American policy toward Cuba to a definitive end.” While engagement with other Communist regimes has worked to our benefit, the shunning of Cuba has only strengthened Fidel Castro’s outsider credentials. More»

People might be able to buy modern ones for the first time

(NEWSER) - Cuba is making moves to give citizens more economic freedom, specifically the right to buy and sell homes and cars for the first time. CNN takes note and wonders what that might mean for all those classic Buicks, Plymouths, and Pontiacs cruising the nation's roads. They still exist because of an old law put in place by Fidel Castro that allows ctizens to buy and sell only cars that were on the road before his 1959 revolution. More»