Cuba

Pitbull Drops Rap Response to Jay-Z, Beyonce's Cuba Visit, Offers to Pay for Trip

Senator Marco Rubio suggested that Jay-Z and Beyoncé have "no interest in Cuban People's freedom." And U.S. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart said that the pair's recent visit "funds the machinery of oppression." Pero, their constituent, Miami native, and Cuban-American ra ... More >>

Jay-Z, Beyonce in Cuba: Treasury Department Confirms the Trip Was "Authorized"

When you're the Carters on vacay in Cuba .... You've gotta expect to get slammed by South Florida's exilio Cubanos. Even if you dress like Maya Angelou and her bagboy on a humanitarian mission circa '64. So it was probably no surprise to Jay-Z and Beyonce when Republican politicos Ileana Ros-Leht ... More >>

Marco Rubio: Jay-Z, Beyoncé "Tourists Who Have No Interest in Cuban People's Freedom"

He don't belong to your motherfuckin' "Clique." Despite the fact that Marco Rubio's got the Kanye, Big Sean, and Jay-Z collabo track looping through his Spotify playlist (not to mention Tupac's "Changes," Flo Rida's "Good Feeling," and Pitbull's "Bon Bon"), it's not like the Florida junior senator' ... More >>

Jay-Z, Beyoncé in Cuba "Funds Machinery of Oppression," Say Ros-Lehtinen, Diaz-Balart

As supercouple Jay-Z and Beyoncé prep for World Humanitarian Day ("I'm doing something good," Mrs. Carter tweets, "somewhere, for someone else. Join me!"), they're also getting slammed by South Floridian members of Congress Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart for helping to "fund the machiner ... More >>

Beyonce and Jay-Z Are In Cuba Right Now

Beyonce and Jay-Z are dangerously in love, and are apparently celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary possibly illegally. The two were spotted in Havana, Cuba, yesterday, which, you know, might be against U.S. law.

Cuban Photographer Raul Canibano Captures Real Life on the Island

A Cuba You Never Heard

Bonding: Asian Fusion and Romance

In only a few weeks, Bond Trisransi, the man behind Calle Ocho's Mr. Yum and 2B Asia Bistro, has transformed a South Miami Avenue space sandwiched between Tobacco Road and the River Seafood & Oyster Bar into another of his whimsical, romantic fusion eateries. This time, Trisransi said he wanted ... More >>

Beer Me Wins Hatuey Beer's Art Contest

In what might go down in history as the best title of all time, artist Adbul Delgado's Beer Me has been designated as the newest marketing image for Cuban beer brand, Hatuey. The brew, whose roots run back to 1920s Cuba, was recently revived by Bacardi. Back in their heyday, Hatuey would hire artis ... More >>

I Love Latin Music Festival at James L. Knight Center November 21

Real Housewives of Miami's Elsa Patton: Havana Elsa Coffee Is Real! UPDATED

If you noticed our favorite Real Housemom Elsa Patton hawking her branded coffee and wondered it it was some cute segment or a possible dream sequence on Bravo's Real Housewives of Miami let us confirm here and now -- Havana Elsa coffee is real.The Patton Group has confirmed that Havana Elsa coffee ... More >>

Cuban Station La Poderosa Goes Beyond Hardline Exilio Politics, Owner's Son Says

Last week, I wrote a cover story on the slow death of Cuban American news talk radio in Miami. As the Hispanic population in Miami-Dade has gotten more diverse over the past decade, the frequencies for hardline right-wing programming focused on getting rid of the Castro regime has shrunk considerabl ... More >>

Hatuey Seeks Artists for Marketing Campaign

Back in the 1940s and '50s, the tropical island of Cuba was home to thousands of artists and musicians. Writers and movie stars traveled there to sun on the beaches and play in the nightclubs. During that time, a local beer named Hatuey sought out some of those talented artists to work on its advert ... More >>

Havana Skate City

Cuba's High-Speed Internet Link To Venezuela Was a Giant Lie

Last summer, millions of Cubans were deliriously ready to blow their meager earnings on badly knit Che dolls on Etsy, flood Facebook with Fidel-praising status updates and, yeah, just download mucho, mucho porn. High-speed Internet, they were told, was finally coming to the masses via a 1,000-mile l ... More >>

Cuba North

Take the Pilgrimage

To Guayabera or Not to Guayabera?

Travel Agency Destroyed, Owner Suspects It Was Firebombed For Booking Trips to Cuba

A Coral Gables travel agency exploded into flames early this morning. Police dogs detected accelerant inside the burnt out building, according to Channel 10 News. And the agency's owner says she suspects it was firebombed in retaliation for booking flights to Cuba."It's not that it's burned. It's pu ... More >>

Hillary Clinton Parties at Cuban-Themed Bar, Sparks Dumbest Scandal Ever

Forget about the Secret Service agents and their Colombian hookers. Ozzie Guillen praising Fidel Castro? Old news. The raging hot scandal this morning, according more than 100 articles on Google News at last count, is that Hillary Clinton spent last night in Cartagena dancing and drinking beer at a ... More >>

La Cuba pa’ la Gente

Chico and Rita: Cartoon Cuban love at Coral Gables Art Cinema through March 16 to 22

Obama Administration Says No to Florida Ferry Service to Cuba

​You're going to have to wait for that romantic cruise to Havana. Under President Obama, travel restrictions to Cuba have eased from the Bush years, with new air charters opening routes from Miami and Tampa and even Texas to the island. That thaw, though, apparently doesn't include passenger boats ... More >>

Annual Study: Cuba Has the Worst Press Freedom in the Americas

​The annual Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index is out, and Cuba continues to have the least freedom of the press in our part of the globe. No other country in the Americas even comes close to Cuba's lowly ranking. Meanwhile, the United States fell 27 places in the rankings in a worrisom ... More >>

Asia De Cuba's Crispy Tofu: A Dish Non-Vegetarians Should Love

​Of all of the Latin American-Asian fusion dishes on Asia de Cuba's diversely unique menu, why would you order slabs of brown tofu? Because they're damn good and you don't have to be vegetarian to enjoy them. Dining with a vegetarian - when you are a natural carnivore who seeks out beef, veal, lam ... More >>

Sweet Deck

Pope Benedict May Visit Cuba Next Year

​Few pastoral visits caused as much controversy as Pope John Paul II's 1998 visit to Cuba. Catholic exiles worried that the Pope's visit to the island would further legitimize Fidel Castro's dictatorship, and images of the two shaking hands was not a welcome site for many in Miami.Now, the Vatican ... More >>

Castro Legalizes Property Sales, Miami's Exiles Eye Long-Lost Family Homes

​For fifty years, all Cuban property sales have been strictly under the cigar-stained thumbs of Fidel and Raul Castro -- until today. The regime announced that starting next week citizens can own up to two houses, move without government approval, and buy and sell their houses. Some experts see a ... More >>

Cubans Can Buy and Sell New Cars, Raul Castro Says

​Say farewell to the most enduring image of the time bubble the Castros have built around Cuba: the kinda charming fleet of jerry-rigged '50s American cars clogging Havana's streets, held together with not much more than duct tape and hope.For fifty years, the regime has forbidden most Cubans from ... More >>

Michele Bachmann Makes Up Second Cuban Missile Crisis Based on No Evidence

​In a major development, Cuba went to the United Nations yesterday and announced it wanted it to normalize relations with the United States. However, Michele Bachmann won't have it. Not because of anything like "prove facts" or a "rationale and informed understanding of the issue," but because she ... More >>

Pablo Milanes at the American Airlines Arena August 27

90 Miles Features Cuban Comfort Food at Tropical Park Tonight

90 Miles90 Miles To Go serves Cuban soul food with a message.​In Key West there's a famous landmark that stands at the southernmost point in the continental United States. The marker reads, "90 miles to Cuba." The message rings loud and clear: So close, yet for all intents and purposes, Cuba might ... More >>

Cuba gets high-speed Internet

Bigoted NASCAR Track Owner Wonders If the Cuban National Anthem Is Sung in Homestead

​Is anyone all that surprised when someone associated with NASCAR continually spouts racist, ignorant garbage? Not really. Sure, it's an image the league is trying to move past, but Bruton Smith, an owner of several NASCAR tracks, is sure making it hard. The guy is full of more hot air than all th ... More >>

Havana Hosts Its First Independent Gay Pride Parade, Sort Of

A flyer for the event featured Prado Avenue's lion sculptures dressed in drag.​It's quite a human rights paradox. Next month, the Cuban parliament will discuss a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage on the Communist isle, yet GLBT citizens are, like all Cubans, discouraged from gathering and ... More >>

Cuba's new entrepreneurs ponder their future

'Down With Castro' Fliers Earn Cuban Activists Five-Year Prison Terms

This guy cannot handle angry leaflets.​Life in La Habana has been inching toward change lately. These days, it's perfectly legal to serve up to 50 people in your restaurant, to own your own barber shop and to spend all afternoon loading clunky dial-up porn on your home computer.Still most definite ... More >>

Get Nostalgic

Dreaming in Cuba

Amigo Skate Cuba's 16-Band Skateboard Benefit at Transit Lounge Tomorrow

​When considering the misfortune (a communist dictatorship that rules with an iron fist, poverty pedaled as "socialist equality," a lack of basic comforts like Tylenol and, oh, light after 8 p.m., and freedom of speech) that's befallen the once sweet island paradise known as Cuba, it's easy to for ... More >>

Fuego Cuban Music Festival Canceled a Week After Its Announcement

Fuego Entertainment's president and CEO Hugo Cancio.​Cuban music aficionados and lovers of el cubaneo in general had reason to rumba in front of their computer screens last Wednesday when Fuego Entertainment dropped the news that it'd be producing the first-ever Fuego Cuban Music World Festival. ... More >>

Cuban Officials to Testify in Posada Carriles Trial

​In a highly unusual move, three officials from Cuba could take the stand as early as today in the trial of Luis Posada Carrilles, the Miami freedom fighter or terrorist, depending on which side of the Florida straits you live. The officials are expected to testify in federal court in West Te ... More >>

Luis Bofill's "No Me Vuelvo a Enamorar"

​Luis Bofill got his start in Cuba's Nueva Trova movement of the late '70s with the group Cuba Nueva. From there, he would cut a mean rug as an exciting interpreter of standards and for generating an infectious blend of jazz, rumba, Latin, and Afro-beat. He's been calling Miami his home since ... More >>

Los Aldeanos and Silvito el Libre at Miami-Dade County Auditorium November 14

Iskander Talks Los Aldeanos y Cuban Conscious Hip-Hop

​Los Aldeanos is leading the new generation of rebel music in Cuba. Since 2003, this collective has operated from within the confines of a tyrannical dicatatorial regime and made conscious hip-hop records that call out Fidel and his henchmen. It's music that reflects a starving, oppressed, bu ... More >>

Cuba Libre, Please

Cuba To Lay Off 500,000 State Workers While Growing The Private Sector

Fidel Castro now claims that his statement claiming that the Cuban model of communism no longer works was misinterpreted and taken out of context by an American journalist, but actions speak louder and words as the island nation has announced a major layoff of state workers. At least 500,000 workers ... More >>

Hillary Clinton to Visit Cuba in Coming Weeks?

Photo via U.S. State Department website​Apparently, the Cold War is not what it used to be. First we find out that the no-longer-so-Soviet Union (aka Russia) still has spies in the U.S. but they are totally lame and shop at Costco. Now Cuba teams up with the Catholic Church and announces it will r ... More >>

Plato Royale: Battle of Yuca Frita, Havana Harry's vs. Casa Larios

Americans have potatoes. Cubans have yuca. So in Miami, you can find the root vegetable pretty much everywhere arroz y frijoles are sold. The starch can be boiled or fried but must be drenched in mojo (a sauce prepared with heavy amounts of garlic, olive oil and citrus juices) to be legitimate.Local ... More >>