Trickster Lures Castro Son Into Online Affair

(NEWSER) - The Internet has lured Cuba's black marketeers online, GlobalPost reports. In a nation that bans most private commerce, a Craigslist-style website has emerged offering everything from American razor blades to True Blood DVDs. Buyers with fatter wallets can pick up computer equipment, a $6,000 illegal Internet hookup, or a sham marriage "if you want to make a deal to leave the island." More»

Despite $70M project, access still terrible

(AP) - It was all sunshine, smiles, and celebratory speeches as officials marked the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable they promised would end Cuba's Internet isolation and boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age. But more than a year after the February 2011 ceremony, and 10 months after the system was supposed to have gone online, the government never mentions the cable anymore, and Internet here remains the slowest in the hemisphere. People talk quietly about embezzlement torpedoing the much-ballyhooed $70 million project, but nobody has explained exactly what happened. More»

Ozzie Guillen must quit: Cuban-American group

(NEWSER) - A Cuban-American group is fuming after the Miami Marlins' manager spoke ever so highly about Cuba's former president. "I love Fidel Castro," Ozzie Guillen told Time . "I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that motherf----r is still here." The Marlins quickly backpedaled, issuing a statement calling Castro a "brutal dictator" who "caused unthinkable pain"; Guillen himself also apologized on Saturday. More»

Cuba to celebrate Good Friday for first time since 1959 revolution

(NEWSER) - It looks like Pope Benedict's visit to Cuba brought about at least one good thing for the Cuban people—a new holiday. On April 6, Cuba will celebrate its first Good Friday since the communist takeover in 1959, reports CNN . It's not the first time a pope has brought a holiday to Cuba—John Paul II's visit in 1997 led to Cuba recognizing Christmas. There's no word, though, whether Good Friday will be celebrated every year in Cuba or just this once. More»

Benedict wraps up visit to Cuba

(NEWSER) - Pope Benedict delivered a relatively blunt message during his homily in Havana today—"Cuba and the world needs change"—but that didn't prevent a subsequent half-hour meeting with Fidel Castro, reports NBC News . It's not Castro's first with a pontiff: He met John Paul II in 1998, a trip during which John Paul urged Cuba to "open itself up to the world," notes AP . Benedict had much the same message. More»