Cuba placed back on terrorism sponsor list

The U.S. has placed Cuba back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, citing the communist country's backing of Venezuela. "With this action, we will once again hold Cuba's government accountable and send a clear message: the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of U.S. justice," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. [READ MORE]
Marriott says U.S. wants chain to shutter Cuba hotel

A spokeswoman for Marriott International says the Trump administration has ordered the chain to wind down hotel operations in Communist Cuba. The move would extinguish a symbol of Barack Obama's attempt to cozy up to the tyrants who rule the island. [READ MORE]
Exposing the lies about Cuba

Turning Point USA has produced a video entitled "Everything You've Ever Seen About Cuba is a Lie." Turning Point traveled to Cuba to investigate the true realities of what a generation of full socialism has done to the once-thriving Cuban population. What did they discover? Everything you have ever seen about Cuba is a lie. [WATCH]
In Little Havana speech, Biden never mentions Cuba

Joe Biden delivered a pitch to Hispanic voters in Miami's Little Havana that skipped over a topic conspicuous in its absence: Cuba. [READ MORE]
New York-area lefties celebrate Cuba's enslavement

On the 66th anniversary of the Castro brothers’ first step in establishing a murderous repressive dictatorship, communists and socialists of various stripes gathered in Manhattan to celebrate this dark day in history as a joyous occasion. [READ MORE]
Fidelito takes his own life

The eldest son of the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro killed himself, according to multiple reports. Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, took his life after falling into a "deep depression" and undergoing subsequent medical attention, according to a state-run Internet site. Diaz-Balart, also known as "Fidelito," worked as a nuclear physicist after studying in the Soviet Union, and recently served as the vice president of Cuba's Academy of Sciences. [READ MORE]
Trump admininstration creates 'Cuba Internet Task Force'

The U.S. Department of State has announced creation of the Cuba Internet Task Force aimed at increasing web access and independent media in the island nation. The group will include U.S. government and non-governmental representatives "to promote the free and unregulated flow of information in Cuba," the State Department said. Details about the members of the group and its budget have not yet been disclosed. The State Department currently operates Radio and TV Marti, broadcast stations aimed at the Cuban audience out of Miami with an annual budget of $28 million. [READ MORE]
Cuban Exiles Recount ‘Sonic’ Torture by Castro Regime

A group of Cuban exiles and former political prisoners gathered on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to recount human rights abuses that they and their relatives suffered at the hands of the Fidel Castro regime. [READ MORE]
Cuban sportscast legend passes

Baseball Hall of Famer Rafael 'Felo' Ramirez, the Bayamo native who broadcast games and other sports for seven decades, has died in Miami at the age of 94. [READ MORE]
Rubio: Obama reached out to the Cuban regime while Trump reaches out to the Cuban people

“A year and a half ago an American president landed in Havana to outstretch his hand to a regime,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said. “Today a new president lands in Miami to reach out his hand to the people of Cuba.” [READ MORE]
Cuba survives Fidel Castro

On the island, within the privacy of many homes, some uncorked a bottle of rum. "I kept it so long I thought I would never be able to taste it," an early rising neighbor told me. There are those who have woken up this Saturday with one less weight on their shoulders, a sensation of lightness they are not yet accustomed to. These are also the days to remember those who didn't make it this far. [READ MORE]
Finally
Cruz, Rubio: No ambassador

U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) say they will block any attempt by lame duck Barack Obama to appoint an ambassador to Cuba.
Obama wants to name diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis to the post, but Cruz and Rubio cite a lack of progress in democracy and human rights in Cuba as their reason for blocking the nomination.
[READ MORE]
Fidel skewers Obama
After Barack Obama returned from his visit to Cuba, former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro ripped the president for his comments about democracy and human rights. [READ MORE]
The more Obama gives them, the more the Castros want

Cuba said it would welcome Barack Obama to Havana, but the Communist government had no intention of changing its policies in exchange for normal relations with the United States.
In a long editorial in the Communist Party newspaper Granma, Cuba demanded Washington cease meddling in its internal affairs and said Obama could do more to change U.S. policy.
Cuba also objected to U.S. support for its political dissidents, whom many consider champions of human rights but whom the Cuban government view as an minority funded by U.S. interests.
[READ MORE]
Obama's Cuba trip showing signs of imploding
Barack Obama's "historic" trip to communist Cuba is showing signs of falling apart. Far from the beisbol and mojitos junket that the president’s PR team is selling, disputes are all over, starting with which dissidents the regime will let the president see. It goes to show what a bad idea this was.
The situation got so bad that Secretary of State John Kerry canceled his preparatory trip to Cuba after Cuban officials told him which dissidents Obama could meet — and which ones he couldn't.
[READ MORE]
Sympathy for the Devil: Stones prop up Castro brothers
The Rolling Stones will perform a "Concert for Amity" in Havana, Cuba on March 25. The Associated Press says they are the biggest act to play Cuba since the 1959 Castro takeover.
Kerry can't show evidence of improved human rights in Cuba

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart put John Kerry against the ropes.
In a State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on February 24, 2016, Kerry could not provide factual evidence of improved human rights in Cuba when asked by Diaz-Balart.
[READ MORE]
Human rights on the ropes in Cuba yet Obama is eager to visit

Barack Obama makes no secret of his eagerness to visit Cuba, but as recently as December he insisted that there would be no such trip until human rights and civil liberties on the island had improved.
“If we’re seeing some progress in the liberty and freedom and possibilities of ordinary Cubans, I’d love to use a visit as a way of highlighting that progress,” Obama told Yahoo News. “If we’re going backwards, then there’s not much reason for me to be there.”
Cuba is going backwards. By all accounts, the Castro regime’s repression has grown worse, not better, since the renewal of diplomatic ties with the United States in 2014. Beatings and arrests of dissidents have soared. There has been a crackdown on churches and religious groups.
Yet Obama announced last week that he’s going to Cuba anyway, thus abandoning his December pledge and rewarding the hemisphere’s sole dictatorship with the enormous prestige of a presidential visit.
[READ MORE]
Castro brothers the only beneficiaries in Obama trip to Cuba
Announcing another historic “first,” Barack Obama said he and the first lady would visit communist Cuba to help improve the lot of the Cuban people. Last time he said that, when he normalized ties, the whip came down.
No regime has been showered with goodies the way the White House has heaped them onto the Castro brothers’ 57-year military dictatorship. From cash and trade, to the prestige of a costly U.S. presidential visit, the Castros have made out like bandits. The U.S. gets nothing in return. Nada.
[READ MORE]
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