E For Embargo, F For Fidel: Castro Dictionary Published

Rebel leader coined revolutionary slogan 'Here, nobody surrenders!'

(NEWSER) - One of the original leaders of the Cuban Revolution and a general in Fidel Castro’s military has died, the BBC reports. Juan Almeida Bosque, 82, was the third most senior member in Raul Castro’s Council of State and the only black member of the Cuban leadership. Almeida met Fidel at the University of Havana in 1952, was jailed after a failed 1953 insurrection, and led troops in the successful 1959 revolution. More»

Adoration of Cuban dictator is misguided, dangerous

(NEWSER) - Sean Penn may be “the finest character actor around,” but he's “no journalist,” writes Roger Cohen in the New York Times. Penn’s recent “fawning tributes” to Cuban president Raúl Castro show the actor has “delusional, dangerous” beliefs about the dictator—a fact that “Penn as Harvey Milk gets,” while “Penn the foreign correspondent flails.” 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»

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»

Former Cuban president chats with Hugo Chavez about food, fuel crises

(NEWSER) - An animated Fidel Castro appeared on state-run Cuban TV yesterday, in the first such broadcast of the ailing revolutionary since January. Castro, standing in some parts of the video, was seen chatting in a garden with his brother Raul, the current Cuban president, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the AP reports. The trio discussed the global food and oil crises and the effect of Midwest floods, Chavez told reporters. More»