Raul Castro

Chavez Endorsement, Che Picture Flap Used Against Obama In New Spanish Ads

In the desperate fight to snag Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade -- a battle that could easily swing Florida, and thus the presidency -- Romney's campaign has decided to pull out the oldest trick in the GOP handbook: Tying Obama to Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.It's ridiculous, of course, bu ... More >>

Hugo Chávez's Six-Song Deathbed Playlist

​Among the most politically polarizing figures in modern times, Venezuelan "president" Hugo Chávez has had the rare distinction of sharing the worldwide stage with other high-energy luminaries like Muammar Gaddafi (d. 2011), Kim Jong-il (d. 2011), Evo Morales, Fidel and Raul Castro, Daniel Ortega ... More >>

Castro, Chavez Make Top Ten List of World's Worst Dictators

​We just usually read Parade magazine for Howard Huge cartoons and "Ask Marilyn," but the magazine actually keeps a somewhat frequently updated list of the world's worst dictators. For the first time this year, Raúl Castro and Hugo Chávez made the top ten list.

Herman Cain Heading To Versailles This Week To Pretend He Cares About Cuban Issues

A candidate making a pit stop for cafecitos at Versailles isn't exactly hot news, even for a guy improbably still leading the GOP after a month fending off more sexual harassment accusations than Gene Simmons' tongue. The Cuban landmark is such a de facto stopover for White House wannabes, the regul ... More >>

Raúl Castro's Daughter Joins Twitter, Quickly Calls Opposition Bloggers "Parasites"

TwitterA rare war of words is raging in Cuba.An hour after joining Twitter, Mariela Castro -- president Raúl Castro's daughter and possible successor -- promptly got into an all-out digital girl fight with Cuban dissident Yoani Sánchez.Castro called Sánchez and other opposition bloggers "despicab ... More >>

Lady Gaga's A Very Gaga Thanksgiving: Ten Celebrities That Should Never Do a Holiday Show

Will Lady Gaga wear a turkey dress?​Lady Gaga just announced her new holiday special, A Very Gaga Thanksgiving. The show will air on ABC on Thanksgiving day, November 24, and will feature Tony Bennett and Katie Couric. If that's not bizarre enough, Gaga is set to perform "White Christmas" and chef ... 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 >>

Fidel Castro's Birthday Present: A Big Transsexual Wedding

​Fidel Castro turned 85 this past Saturday, and the celebrations were mostly typical. Supporters held a giant concert featuring dozens of musical acts, but Castro himself spent the day in seclusion, which prompted rumors he might have been too feeble for a public appearance. Miami exiles, meanwhil ... More >>

Cuba's new entrepreneurs ponder their future

Obama Needs to See "Significant Changes" Before Normalizing Relations with Cuba

President Obama has rolled back some of the strictest policies regarding Cuba, including easing travel restrictions and allowing for more remittances. Though, in an interview with Univision this week the president made clear that he will not normalize relations with the nation until Cuba makes "sign ... More >>

Cuba Running So Low On Coffee Castro Orders Chickpeas Mixed Into Grounds

​Cuba was once among the world's great coffee exporters. Nowadays it's running so short on beans and importing so much joe to feed the nation's cafecito habit that Raul Castro has ordered state roasters to mix coffee beans with chickpeas to save cash.Mmmm, the bitter, chickpea-infused taste of com ... More >>

Hugo Chávez Calls Cuban Reforms 'Refreshing'

walksydneystreets.netRefreshing! Like Cuba's economic reforms​Over the past decade, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has become the Cuban government's number one supporter. His oil subsidies help keep the embargoed island afloat and, in return, he welcomes Cuban doctors to Caracas's poor, inner-c ... More >>

Bay of Pigs 50 Years Later: Miami Mourns, Cuban Gov Celebrates - But for How Long?

via Wikimedia CommonsBay of Pigs Memorial in Little Havana.​They landed silently in the pre-dawn darkness: small groups of armed men seeking to overthrow Fidel Castro and his young government. Then everything went wrong. Two days later, the mission was in flames.This Sunday marks the 50th annivers ... More >>

Miami's Hardcore Castro Foes Won't be Watching Party Congress

​While much of the world will be focusing on Cuba's Communist Party Congress when it kicks off on the island Saturday, one group seems to care less what happens during what is being billed as a turning point for the totalitarian regime. At Versailles Restaurant on Calle Ocho, ground zero for ... More >>

Fidel Castro Quit as Communist Party Leader Five Years Ago, Just Bothered to Let Everyone Know Now

​Facing failing health in 2006, Fidel Castro transferred his presidential title and duties to his brother Raúl, but it was thought he still held onto his power as chief of the Cuban Communist Party. In a newspaper column published today, though, Castro revealed he resigned that post five years ag ... More >>

Cuba To Teach Youngsters About Taxes With World's Most Boring Video Game

​There's one hitch in Fidel Castro's plan to lug the Cuban economy closer to capitalism by laying off 500,000 state workers so they can start private businesses: None of these people have ever paid taxes before.So how to teach a new generation of Cubans that government tithes come hand-in-hand wit ... More >>

A look ahead: predicting 2011 headlines

A Look Ahead: Riptide Predicts 2011's Biggest Stories

​Any two-bit news rag can tell you what happened yesterday. But it takes a truly great publication -- one advertising Asian table massages in its back pages -- to predict the future. We donned our swami's cap and stared long and hard at our 2011 calendar until we started hallucinating. This is wh ... More >>

Latin American Round-Up: Hugo Chávez Gets Decree Powers, Raúl Castro Gets Depressed

Cheer up buddy. I've got decree powers!​Hugo Chávez won't be making any Obama-like compromises in 2011. The Venezuelan National Assembly is expected to pass a ley habilitante today that would allow the bombastic president -- best known for his twitter histrionics -- to pass laws by decree for 12 ... More >>

Maggie Rodriguez Fired from CBS's The Early Show

​It's not a good year for veterans of Miami local news who've gone national. There was of course Rick Sanchez's total breakdown, and Katie Couric's continued ratings troubles at the CBS Evening News. Now it seems that Miami-native and CBS 4 alum Maggie Rodriguez has been fired from her gig as a co ... More >>

Thomas Wenski: Archbishop Easy Rider

Archbishop Thomas Wenski: Tea Party conservative and church radical

Archbishop Wenski Says the Church is "Winning More Space" in Cuba, but Not Enough For Castro to Stop Intercepting his Phone Calls

floridacatholic.orgArchbishop of Miami Thomas Wenski​For a moment last night, it looked as if Thomas Wenski was in over his head. As the Archbishop of Miami stood beneath a giant mural of Cuban history in the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, he stumbled over his normally flawless Spanish. "Today, C ... More >>

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 >>

Castro’s Cash Flow

Dissident Adrian Leiva Drowns While Trying to Sneak Back into Cuba

​Cuban dissident and political activist Adrian Leiva has drowned after trying to sneak back into Cuba aboard a boat, the Miami Herald reports.Leiva left Cuba for Miami in 2005, but wanted to return. He tried to re-enter Cuba legally but was denied by the government. After a three-month stay in 200 ... More >>

Cuba Begins Experimenting With Capitalism, or Something Vaguely Resembling It

​Cuba may have a bustling black market of underground entrepreneurs, but legal private enterprise has been outlawed since all businesses were nationalized in 1968. Now, according to Reuters, the communist island is about to embark on an experiment with something resembling capitalism.The ... More >>

Miami-based National Circle of Journalists from Cuba can't find a recipient for its award

Cuba's black market moves online with Revolico.com

Spies in the Magic City

The Supreme Court will decide whether to reconsider conviction of the Cuban Five.

Raul Castro Will Trade Political Prisoners for Cuban 5

Cuba's imprisonment of political dissidents has long been a point of contention between the island nation and Miami's exile community. So it comes as a surprise that Raul Castro is willing to let them go."These prisoners you talk about -- they want us to let them go? They should tell us tomorrow ... More >>

Spicoli Brokers Obama-Castro Gitmo Hookup?

No, that headline is not just a hallucination brought on by the tryptophan-induced haze you've been stumbling around in since stuffing that turducken down your gullet yesterday.It's just, quite simply, the strangest post-Thanksgiving news on the planet. Somehow or another, Sean Penn, the liberal wun ... More >>

Miami Loses

Residents passed the amendment to ban gay marriage.

Election Day: Downtown Miami Shores Low on McCain Supporters

Miami Loses

Of course, Tuesday's presidential result made history. And we celebrated. But all is not well.

Newsweek: Forget the Cubans. The Other Hispanics Rule!

Finally Florida

A rogue state meets presidential candidates who pine for its fickle heart.

Letters from the Issue of January 18, 2007

"How is it that Carlos Rios has a phone?"

Press Time

With Fidel on his death bed, journalist Carlos Otero is more critical than ever

Ding-Dong! The Dictator Is Dead

This Week's Day by Day Picks

A New Enemies List

Fidel is making a list, checking it twice; if you're a Cuban exile, he's going to decide if you've been naughty or nice

Dialogue: The Final Frontier

When trade sanctions, bluster, and a few bombs don't work, you gotta try something else

Carlos Cruz's Second Act

In his native Cuba he was a film star. Here in the States he's just another car salesman with a dream.

In Havana, Telling It Like It Is

In Havana, On Drugs

As faith in the revolution sinks to new lows, kids in Cuba are getting high

The Man and the Microphone

In the turbulent and often virulent world of Spanish-language radio, two things are certain: Fidel will be the debate, and Tomas Garcia Fuste will prevail

The Look of a Warrior

Tony Bryant is a black militant, a hijacker, a survivor of Cuban prisons, and a Castro-hating commando. And don't you forget it.

Cuba Over and Out