Bush to Urge Cubans to Rise Up

Decision could save life of man on hunger strike

(NEWSER) - Cuba has promised to release 52 political prisoners, after one of them went on an attention-grabbing hunger strike. Guillermo Fariñas, a 48-year-old psychologist and journalist, has been hospitalized thanks to his hunger strike, which he began back in February, after a previous hunger striker starved to death. Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos came to Havana this week to attempt to save his life, and hammered out the release deal with Raul Castro and Havana Archbishop Jaime Ortega, the New York Times reports. 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»

Raul promises to free dissidents in exchange for Cuban 5

(NEWSER) - In another sign of a potential thaw in US-Cuban relations, Raul Castro offered today to release five political dissidents if the US frees five Cubans jailed on spy charges. Castro says the prisoner swap could precede talks between himself and Barack Obama, Reuters reports. “Give us back our five heroes," said Castro. "That is a gesture on both parts." More»

They're resigned to small freedoms, not sweeping change

(NEWSER) - Cuba's youth are restless, but many are more concerned about access to Facebook, flat-screen TVs, and trips abroad than political change, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Young people say that they pressured Raul Castro to allow cell phone and computer ownership, but they remain disillusioned about the prospects for greater change. More»

Angela, 88, is first Castro sibling to die

(NEWSER) - Angela Castro, the eldest of the seven Castro siblings that include Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul, has died in Havana at the age of 88, according to her sister Juanita, who lives in exile in Miami. Angela, who lived her life out of the public eye, is the first of the Castro siblings to die, notes AP . Fidel is 85, and Raul, who became president in 2006, is 80. "I'm sure that her passing, being the first born and the first to die, will resonate deeply with her brothers, for whom the bell tolls," said Ann Louise Bardach, the author of several books on Cuba and the Castro family. More»