Mariano Castillo | CNN

Ramiro Valdes, 77, is one of only four remaining original rebels led by Fidel Castro in the 1950s in Cuba. By Cuban standards, he has had a remarkable career, serving the Castro brothers loyally for years in a variety of posts, some which made him notorious.

Now, Valdes has accepted a new task outside Cuba that is raising skepticism. He arrived this week in Venezuela as a consultant for that country’s energy crisis.

Venezuela is facing critical electricity shortages that have created rolling blackouts in some areas. The government of Hugo Chavez blames a long drought…
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By KENNETH A. CHANDLER | New York Post

Much has been written about Haiti being a failed state in the wake of its devastating earthquake. But just to its west lies another human catastrophe in the making—Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

Havana is a city of sorrow—a once elegant and prosperous capital brought to despair by 51 years of deliberate neglect and isolation. A country that has been plundered by a succession of foreign powers, homegrown dictators and mobsters imported from America now languishes in a bizarre time warp where little has changed in more than half a century.

Its people go…
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BY BRIAN LATELL | commentary in the Miami Herald

Offstage for almost three and a half years—infirm, debilitated and mostly confined to convalescent quarters—Fidel Castro nonetheless reasserted himself in 2009 as the dominant force in the Cuban leadership.

Now beginning his 52nd year in power—he never surrendered the overarching responsibility as First Secretary of the Communist Party—his renewed preeminence is proving to be calamitous for Cuba.

By eclipsing brother Raúl, Cuba’s titular president, and the many technocrats Raúl elevated last year throughout the bureaucracy, Cuba’s intransigent old lion is likely provoking serious tensions in the leadership. His actions have undermined…
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By PAUL HAVEN | Associated Press

Cuba has cut two staple foods from the monthly ration books that most islanders depend on, edging closer to a risky full elimination of the decades-old subsidies.

Potatoes and peas were dropped from the list of rationed foods this week, meaning Cubans can buy as much of the products as they want _ as long as they are willing to pay as much as 20 times more than they used to.

The move comes amid efforts by Raul Castro’s government to scale back Cuba’s subsidy-rich, cash-poor economy. Nearly free lunches were eliminated from…
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By WILL WEISSERT | Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS – Cuba adopted a moderately conciliatory tone toward the U.S. at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, saying it is ready to normalize relations and, until then, wants to work with Washington to fight drug and people smuggling, protect the environment and cope with natural disasters.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said Cuba had approached the American government with “a set of essential topics” it considers imperative to improving bilateral ties, including doing away with the so-called “wet-foot, dry-foot” immigration policy, which allows nearly all Cubans who reach U.S. soil…
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