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HAVANA –– Former Cuban president Fidel Castro charged that American society was marked by “profound racism” and that it was a “pure miracle” that U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama has not been assassinated. “Profound racism exists in the United States,” Castro wrote in a commentary that appeared on the Web site Cubadebate Saturday as he weighed in on the U.S. presidential race ahead of the November 4 election. “Millions of whites cannot reconcile in their minds with the idea that a black man with his wife and children would move into the White House, which is called just like that...

About 150 Muslim workers have been fired from a Grand Island meatpacking plant in a dispute over prayer... Plant officials at the JBS Swift meatpacking plant are bringing in Cuban workers to replace them...

Obama Under Threat, Castro Says 4:07pm UK, Sunday October 12, 2008 Former Cuban president Fidel Castro has claimed it is a "pure miracle" that US presidential candidate Barack Obama has not been assassinated. Mr Castro also accused American society of being marked by "profound racism", as he revealed his thoughts on the race for the White House ahead of the election on November 4. He wrote: "Millions of whites cannot reconcile in their minds with the idea that a black man with his wife and children would move into the White House, which is called just like that - White"....

WASHINGTON - When Cuba faced the U.S. in a World Cup qualifier last night, it did so without midfielder Pedro Faife and forward Reynier Alcantara - who both presumably joined the growing legion of that country's soccer-playing defectors to America. Cuba's coach, Reinhold Fanz, first confirmed their disappearance from the team's Doubletree Hotel during their stays here this week. Neither one was at practice on Friday, or at the stadium last night for the match at RFK Stadium. "We have security, but you can't handcuff them to their rooms," Fanz told the Washington Post on Friday night. Together, the two...

HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro says a "profound racism" in the United States will stop millions from voting for Barack Obama in next month's presidential election. The ailing, 82-year-old former Cuban president says it is "a miracle that the Democratic candidate hasn't suffered the same luck as (assassinated leaders) Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and others who harbored dreams of equality and justice."

HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro says a "profound racism" in the United States will stop millions from voting for Barack Obama in next month's presidential election. The ailing, 82-year-old former Cuban president says it is "a miracle that the Democratic candidate hasn't suffered the same luck as (assassinated leaders) Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and others who harbored dreams of equality and justice." Castro's written comments were published by state media Saturday. In them, he insists a "profound racism" exists in the U.S. and that millions of whites "cannot reconcile themselves to the idea that a black person ... could...

Cuba is limiting how much basic fruits and vegetables people can buy at farmers' markets, irritating some customers but ensuring there's enough — barely — to go around... The government is delivering all items distributed each month on the universal ration that provides Cubans with up to two weeks of food — including eggs, beans, rice and potatoes... But the rest of the food Cubans supplement their diets with at supply-and-demand farmers markets and government produce stands has dwindled, prompting the government to limit consumer purchases and cap prices on items including rice, beans, root crops and fresh greens. Rodriguez...

On this day in 1967, Che Guevara, the Argentine communist, was executed by the Bolivian Army. He and his pals had invaded Bolivia a few days earlier in hope of establishing a communist dictatorship. [At left, an Obama campaign office in Texas proudly displays an icon of Che Guevara on the Cuban flag.] While working for Fidel Castro, Che Guevara had ordered the execution of nearly two thousand anti-communists. He boasted that he had shot dozens of prisoners with his favorite pistol. [At left, a Democrat judge in Ohio displays a picture of Che Guevara alongside a picture of his...

In a recent post I referred to a speech unrepentant domestic terrorist and Obama associate Bill Ayers delivered in Caracas, Venezuela, to the 2006 World Education Forum, sponsored by UNESCO. His text is full of Marxist rhetoric, but that's just Marxist Ayers being Ayers. He's also a professor of education, and there's nothing unusual about his presence at a global forum on education sponsored by an arm of the United Nations. But dig down below the topsoil, and you will discover that the ties between Ayers and Chavez run deeper than his appearance at an academic forum which just happened...

Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike inflicted misery on millions of Cubans. But when the Castro dictatorship looks at the devastation, it sees opportunity. Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, who took over as head of state in February, for years have been calling for an end to the U.S. embargo, which they say is starving Cuba. But Cuba can already buy from U.S. producers all the food and medicine it can pay cash for. What the totalitarian tag-team really wants is an end to the ban on private-sector credit to the Cuban government. Their demand has gone nowhere in Washington,...

NEW YORK: Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has slept with 35,000 women in his 82 years of life, according to an upcoming documentary. "He slept with at least two women a day for more than four decades - one for lunch and one for supper," the New York Post quoted an ex-Castro official named "Ramon" as telling filmmaker Ian Halperin. "Sometimes he even ordered one for breakfast," the official said. "I don't think he would have stayed on as long as he did if not for all the incredible women he had access to as president," the official added. Fidel...

Fidel Castro 'bedded 35,000 women'! From ANI New York, Sept 18: Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has slept with 35,000 women in his 82 years of life, according to an upcoming documentary. "He slept with at least two women a day for more than four decades - one for lunch and one for supper," the New York Post quoted an ex-Castro official named "Ramon" as telling filmmaker Ian Halperin. "Sometimes he even ordered one for breakfast," the official said. "I don't think he would have stayed on as long as he did if not for all the incredible women he...

HAVANA, September 17 —In less than 24 hours more than 1,000 intellectuals from Latin America, the United States, Europe and Africa have signed an appeal circulated by their Cuban colleagues, expressing solidarity and demanding an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba. The message, which is circulating on the Internet, notes that Cuba was dramatically impacted by two powerful hurricanes recently, and that its people are demanding an immediate halt to the odious blockade that has been maintained against Cuba by successive U.S. administrations for almost 50 years. The appeal to the world from a large group of Cuban artists...

Cuba: Fidel Castro rejected two U.S. aid offers following major hurricanes. After lecturing us about "dignity," he then revealed his real game: to extract U.S. policy concessions and cash by using suffering as a wedge.nstead of accepting $5 million in no-strings U.S. aid as the island reels from terrible hurricanes, Castro used the disasters as an opportunity to demand a suspension of the U.S. trade embargo, while doing nothing to lighten his dictatorship. Pretty nervy. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, on a visit to IBD this week, called the two hurricanes that blew through earlier this month "Cuba's Katrina" and described...

Russia to help Cuba build space center Author: Conor Sweeney, Reuters News 09/17/2008 MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow is ready to help Cuba develop its own space center, Russia's space agency chief said on Wednesday after talks in Caracas with Venezuelan and Cuban officials, Itar-Tass news agency reported. Russia has stepped up efforts to develop closer links with both countries, which are ideological enemies of Washington, including sending Russian strategic bombers on a mission to Venezuela this month. "We have held preliminary discussions about the possibility of creating a space center in Cuba with our help," the chief of Russia's Federal...

HAVANA – Cuba has turned down U.S. storm relief handouts, but is asking for trade restrictions to be lifted so it can buy American materials to assist in its recovery from Hurricane Ike, officials said Thursday. "Cuba hasn't asked the United States government to give it anything," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYEiwR2KklM Devastating.

(English-language translation) HAVANA (AP) - Cuban dissidents sent U.S. President George Bush a letter asking him to temporarily suspend some of the sanctions against the island so aid may be sent following hurricane Gustav. "We ask you that, at least for two months, you lift the restrictions of the embargo that concern the relations between the exiled Cubans and those who live in the island," read a letter signed by Martha Beatriz Roque and Vladimiro Roca on behalf of a small group called Agenda for the Transition. The dissidents asked for permission to send money and packages and for Cuban-Americans...

Hurricane Ike is the fifth tropical cyclone of the 2008 hurricane season to threaten U.S. Gulf Coast states. Reports from Turks & Caicos Islands describe 80 per cent of homes damaged or destroyed. On Sunday, Hurricane Ike's position just north of Hispanola was hampering relief efforts for devastation incurred by Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Fay. The death toll in Haiti from Gustav reached 200 people. Florida Governor Charlie Crist held a press conference Sunday morning shortly after a Hurricane Watch was issued for the Florida Keys. Public Advisory Updated every 3 hours Discussion Updated every 6 hours Buoy data:Florida...

Washington-Amid rising tensions over Georgia, U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that Russia is moving to rebuild one of the most dangerous features of the old Soviet Union's security structure-its alliance with Cuba. Moscow has been signaling that it wants to restore a long relationship with Havana that included not only economic ties, but also military and intelligence cooperation. The relationship brought the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 when Russia secretly installed nuclear missiles on the island.

OAKLAND — A 61-year-old Orinda real estate executive and former Saint Mary's College professor pleaded guilty Friday morning to producing child pornography in a case in which he traveled to Costa Rica to have sex with a 12-year-old girl.Leonard Auerbach faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years.No family members or friends attended the hearing. Auerbach, dressed in a red Alameda County Jail jumpsuit, answered the judge's questions with simple "Yes, sir," responses.In April, Auerbach fled the country after charges were initially filed. After being named a "most wanted" fugitive by U.S. Immigration...

Drinkers the world round know the name Bacardi means rum, but few non-Cubans know that this global enterprise was founded -- and is still owned -- by a Cuban family that played an important role in the island's social, political and economic history. Emilio Bacardi was a prominent activist in Cuba's fight for independence from Spain, suffering lengthy periods of imprisonment for the cause. Other members of the clan, based in Cuba's eastern city of Santiago, also stepped forward to oppose the sad parade of corrupt and dictatorial rulers that the island has since known. Longtime NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten...

Hurricane Gustav bears down on Cuba on Saturday evening local time.(Credit: NOAA)With Hurricane Gustav headed straight toward New Orleans, emergency officials and telecommunication companies are preparing for the worst. Gustav's winds had reached 150mph as of midday Saturday, making it dangerous Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. The NHC predicted that Gustav could reach Category 5--the highest level possible. Gustav is pounding Cuba right now. It is expected to reach the Gulf Coast on Monday afternoon. On Saturday, the NHC began trying out Gustav updates via podcast. The NHC is also making a PDA/smartphone-friendly version of...

"As I left Havana earlier this month," writes Dr. Rens Lee, senior fellow at Philadelphia's prestigious Foreign Policy Research Institute, "Cuba was eagerly awaiting the United States' November presidential elections. The buzz around the capital, reportedly from a highly placed source, was that Barack Obama has already talked to Raul Castro by phone."

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Gustav's winds increased to near 145 mph Saturday as it threatened the western tip of Cuba as a Category 4 hurricane.

Is Obama talking secretly with Raul Castro? August 30, 2008 By Humberto Fontova "As I left Havana earlier this month," writes Dr. Rens Lee, senior fellow at Philadelphia's prestigious Foreign Policy Research Institute, "Cuba was eagerly awaiting the United States' November presidential elections. The buzz around the capital, reportedly from a highly placed source, was that Barack Obama has already talked to Raul Castro by phone." (Note: I notified the Obama campaign of these claims and asked for a response or clarification. It has not responded.) Dr. Rens Lee explains that the buzz was reported by both highly placed Cuban...

Armando Valladares Twenty-Two Years in Castro's GulagBy MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY August 16, 2008; Miami In late December 1959, nearly a year after Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista had been run out the country by a movement that had a goal of restoring the 1940 Cuban constitution, Fidel Castro was tightening his grip. At the time, Armando Valladares was a 22-year-old government bureaucrat at the Post Office Savings Bank. One day a group from the Communist Party showed up in his office and put a sign on his desk that read "If Fidel is a communist, put me on the list. He's...

The presumptive Democratic candidate aspires to end U.S. foreign policy “unilateralism:” Democrat Barack Obama represents a “new type of leader” who hopes to use multilateralism, dialogue and the cooperation on the international scene, his campaign advisors said today. “The new element that Obama brings in working with the rest of the world is that… he will listen and will work with our allies, and thus move away from the unilateralism” that has been the mark of the government of Republican President George W. Bush, declared Greg Craig, one of Obama’s main foreign policy advisers, at a press conference. Craig described...

Fidel Castro says corrupt judges are to blame for Cuba's sub-par showing at the Beijing Olympics. Castro alleges that judges blatantly stole semifinal fights from two Cuban boxers, and that a judge must have been bribed in the case of Angel Matos, who kicked a referee in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal taekwondo match.

BEIJING -- Cuba's Angel Matos deliberately kicked a referee square in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal match, prompting the World Taekwondo Federation to recommend that he be banned for life. "We didn't expect anything like what you have witnessed to occur," said WTF secretary general Yang Jin-suk. "I am at a loss for words." Yang also recommended Matos' coach be banned.

Taekwondo athlete Angel Matos of Cuba received a lifetime ban after kicking the referee in the face following his disqualification in a bronze-medal match Saturday at the Beijing Games.

Media AdvisoryOur Fallen Soldiers Return HomeLFCA MA 08-012 - August 22, 2008OTTAWA — Our fallen soldiers, Sergeant Shawn Allen Eades, 33, Corporal Dustin Roy Robert Joseph Wasden, 25, and Sapper Stephan J. Stock, 25, all combat engineers with 12 Field Squadron, 1 Combat Engineer Regiment from Edmonton, Alberta are scheduled to return home to Canada tomorrow. Where: 8 Wing, Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario. When: Saturday, August 23, 6:00 p.m. What: At the wishes of the families, media are not permitted on the tarmac. Present to pay their respects will be Her Excellency The Governor General of Canada, The Right...

As a muscular counterpoint to Obama's weasel-words in Berlin last month, the Rush Limbaugh show featured excerpts from JFK's famous Berlin speech from 1963: “And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin....Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.“ “At the Brandenburg Gate in 1963, John F. Kennedy tells the communists their days are numbered, “ gushed Rush. “There's not a Democrat alive who would make that speech today anywhere. Democrats today are appeasers. Did you hear any appeasement here?“ We didn't...

"How the Mob Owned Cuba, and Lost it to the Revolution," is the bestselling book's title. T.J. English is the author. Several facts get in the way of the books title and thesis. To wit: Cuba's Gross Domestic product in 1957 was $2.7 billion. Cuba's foreign receipts in 1957 were about $750 million--of which tourism made up only $60 million. Gambling was a small fraction of this $60 million. How could the beneficiaries of that tiny fraction of Cuba's income "own" the entire country, and "infiltrate its levers of power from top to bottom," as the book asserts? Well, we...

Cuba Says Can't Pay For Japan Imports On Time : Nikkei V. Phani Kumar HONG KONG -- The Central Bank of Cuba informed Japan's Nippon Export and Investment Insurance that it couldn't pay for Japanese imports by the agreed upon dates, the Nikkei business daily reported Monday. "This isn't a problem specific to this bank. Foreign exchange reserves for settling trade accounts are in short supply in Cuba," said an offical at the Cuban central bank, according to the report.

(English-language translation) HAVANA (AFP) - The number of political prisoners in Cuba decreased from 234 to 219 in the last 6 months, but the human-rights situation remains "very unfavorable" under the government of Raúl Castro, an officially-illegal dissident commission denounced this Tuesday. "Two years after certain readjustments at the high governing level, the civil-, political-, and economic-rights situation....remains very unfavorable," the Cuban Human Rights & National Reconciliation Commission (CCDHRN) said. According to a report by this illegal commission, "arbitrary systematic" detentions and threats from the "enormous political and social repression apparatus" persist following Fidel Castro's illness-related exit from the government...

(English-language translation) A special envoy of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko made a two-day visit to Havana to analyze the increase in cooperation between the island and the strong Russian ally, with whom Cuba is also resuming relations, the national press reveals today. Lukashenko's special envoy Victor Sheiman stayed in Cuba during August 8-10 as head of a delegation that held meetings with "high officials in different sectors" of Cuba, the official daily Granma reports. The trip had not been revealed beforehand. During his stay, Sheiman analyzed with his Cuban counterparts the current state of bilateral links and evaluated "new initiatives...

George Clooney, already one of Hollywood's leading liberal voices, has embarked on what may be one of his most controversial projects: the story of Osama bin Laden's driver. Clooney's production company, Smokehouse, has bought the rights to a book about Salim Hamdan, an inmate at Guantánamo Bay who last week was sentenced to jail for his role in helping the al-Qaeda leader. The book, The Challenge, is by journalist Jonathan Mahler and tells the story of Hamdan's capture and trial, defended by a US navy lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift. It has had a big critical success. Last week Yemen-born...

In an astounding finale to the first military-commission trial, Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s personal aide, has been sentenced by a military commission to five-and-a-half years in prison — five-and-a-half years — upon conviction for the war crime of providing material support to al-Qaeda.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2008 – The first detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to have his case brought to trial was sentenced today by a military panel there to 66 months in prison for providing material support to terrorism. Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who served as Osama bin Laden’s driver, was tried and sentenced under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Following a two-week trial, a military jury yesterday found Hamdan guilty of providing material support to terrorism, but not of the more serious charge of conspiracy. Navy Capt. Keith Allred, the military judge, sentenced him to 66 months confinement but...

Gitmo Tribunal Has Reached Verdict in Bin Laden-Driver Case

Alexander Solzhenitsyn is dead. Peter Rodman is dead. And memory is dying with them. Over the weekend, Solzhenitsyn, the 89-year-old literary titan, and Rodman, the American foreign-policy intellectual, passed away. I knew Rodman and liked him very much. We were partners in a debate at Oxford University last year. He provided the gravitas. A former protege of Henry Kissinger and high-ranking official in two Republican administrations, Rodman was one of the wisest of the wise men of the conservative foreign-policy establishment. Calm, elegant, dryly funny, brilliant, but most of all gentlemanly. He died too young, at 64, of leukemia. Solzhenitsyn...

Some of the country's top military brass, angry over the United States' plans to install a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, suggested last month that Russia could send nuclear-capable bombers to refuel and idle in Cuba in retaliation.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday said it was time for Russia to rebuild links with former Cold War ally Cuba, news agencies reported. The Kremlin is angry at U.S. plans for a missile defence system in Eastern Europe, and last month a news report suggested Russia might use Cuba, a thorn in America's side for half a century, as a refueling stop for nuclear-capable bombers. The Russian Defence Ministry denied the report and said it had no plans to open any military bases abroad, but a top U.S. general was drawn to say such a...

HAVANA (Reuters) - The era of Fidel Castro appeared to be ending July 30, 2006, when the ailing leader handed over power to his brother Raul Castro. But two years later, he remains a force to be reckoned with in Cuba and to some degree on the international scene. Although he no longer rules the Caribbean island as he did for almost 50 years, the 81-year-old still has his brother's ear and is using a newfound career as a newspaper columnist to make his views known. Diplomatic cocktail gossip in Havana centers on whether he is using his clout to...

Cuba Not Improved Under New CastroBy the News-Register POSTED: July 28, 2008 New Cuban President Raul Castro answered a question posed several months ago when he took the reins of power from his infirm brother, Fidel. At the time, some observers wondered whether the new Castro would liberalize Cuban policies. No, Raul Castro said on Saturday. Cubans can expect only the same-old, same-old communism. In a speech delivered on Revolution Day, Castro pledged that the military will continue to be a priority for Cuba's resources. That was the case under Fidel Castro, because the wily old dictator understood the need...

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence. On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress. I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and...

Geopolitics: As Barack Obama luxuriated in the adoration of Europeans, a less charming leader was also making his way across the Continent, seeking arms and military bases to direct toward the United States.What happened under the radar last week ought to have gotten more attention, because it's the beginning of a problem that will carry well into the next administration. While Obama was drawing applause in Germany, Venezuela's hostile and anti-American president, Hugo Chavez, was conducting a stealthy parallel trip across Europe spending billions of petrodollars on weapons of war he doesn't need. In Russia, he vowed to buy $1...

Cuba silent on Russian bomber report: Fidel Castro 24 Jul 2008 01:30:02 GMT Source: Reuters HAVANA, July 23 (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Wednesday said Cuba does not have to explain or "ask forgiveness" about a report out of Russia this week that Russia might use its Cold War ally Cuba as a refueling base for nuclear-capable bombers. He did not address whether the report was true or false, and Cuban officials have made no comment. "Raul did very well keeping a dignified silence," Castro wrote, referring to his brother, President Raul Castro, in a column...

National Security: In 1962 the Soviets tested a young American president by putting nuclear missiles 90 miles from Florida. Barack Obama fancies himself the next JFK. He may get to find out.In June 1961, a young and ambitious President Kennedy met with Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna, Austria, to discuss Cold War issues, particularly the situation in Berlin. Khrushchev came away unimpressed, convinced the young Kennedy could be had. Two months later the Berlin Wall was going up. By the following spring the Soviet leader was making plans for installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. Kennedy quickly found out that "aggressive personal...