LOS ANGELES TIMES

Case appears closed on 'Cuban Five'

If one person's freedom fighter is another's terrorist, the case of the Cuban Five illustrates the chasm that remains between Havana and Washington, despite recent overtures that are gradually easing tensions left over from the Cold War.

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

Cuba's so hot it's cool

Tell friends you have just been to Cuba, and depending on the circles in which you travel, you may be rewarded with a lot of envy. Cuba is hot, and we're not talking about the tropical weather.
NEW STATESMAN

Cuba goes capitalist

Come July, there will be another sign of Cuba�s New Labour-style accommodation of the capitalist 21st century: wealthy foreigners will be able to buy luxury holiday homes on the island.
THE WASHNGTON POST

U.S. pushed hard for OAS accord

For a few hours this week, the Organization of American States appeared about to splinter: Leftist Latin American governments squared off against the United States over whether Cuba should be allowed to rejoin the main forum for political cooperation in the hemisphere.
TIME

Inside the OAS's Cuba conundrum

Latin American leaders usually have few qualms about lecturing the U.S. on what they regard as the folly of its Cuba policy, especially of late. Reintegrating Cuba has become a priority issue for many if not most of the region's governments, who see it as a way to break with the Cold War politics and U.S. hegemony that burdened the region in the 20th century.
THE WASHNGTON POST

U.S. urged to relax Cuba policy to boost regional relations

The U.S. government is fighting an effort to allow Cuba to return to the Organization of American States after a 47-year suspension. But the resistance is putting it at odds with much of Latin America as the Obama administration is trying to improve relations in the hemisphere.
BARRON'S

Relishing the idea of a Post-Castro Cuba

Meet the Forrest Gump of Cuban communism, �scar Espinosa Chepe. Like the character played by Tom Hanks in the 1994 film, Chepe has spent the past half-century having the good (as well as the bad) fortune of being wherever the action is.
INVESTORS.COM

Cuban exile mobilizes for fellow survivors of Castro's labor camps

Emilio Izquierdo Jr. survived Cuba's gulag and came to America in 1980. His struggle instilled in him a love of liberty that would drive him to become a thriving businessman. It would also drive him to fight Castro's propaganda by forming the UMAP Political Prisoners Association.
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD

Uncertainty a common feeling in Cuba

Lawrence Journal-World photographer Richard Gwin recently attended the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution in Havana. During the May Day celebration, the streets began to fill at 6 a.m. as more than 1 million Cubans joined to march for the Revolution.
DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Deena Stryker photographs of Cuba, 1963-1964

The Deena Stryker Photographs collection contains photographs and related materials generated by the journalist, then known as Deena Boyer, during two trips to Cuba between July 1963 and July 1964.
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Charter companies flying to Cuba thrive

The crowd of Cuban-Americans pressing against the airport ticket counter scorned those on the other side. Only a handful of American charter companies have landing rights in Cuba, and with the new White House policy letting Cuban-Americans visit relatives there as often as they want, ticket prices have become political.
THE AUSTRALIAN

Cubans find a new hero in gentle 'cyberspace rebel'

Cuban dissidents have found a brave new figurehead in Yoani Sanchez, a blogger whose observations about life in one of the world's last communist bastions have angered the state and made her a global celebrity.
Congressional Research Service

Cuba: Issues for the 111th Congress

As in past years, the main issue for U.S. policy toward Cuba in the 111th Congress is how best to support political and economic change in Cuba.
THE WASHINGTON POST

Cuba's undersea oil could help thaw trade with U.S.

Drilling operations by foreign companies in Cuban waters are still in the exploratory stage, and significant obstacles -- technological and political -- stand between a U.S.-Cuba rapprochement eased by oil. But as the Obama administration gestures toward improved relations with the Castro government, the national security, energy and economic benefits of Cuban crude may make it a powerful incentive for change.
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

High-rolling Cuba unlikely to return

Even as its economy slowly moves into the 21st century, Cuba still has the image of a place stuck in the '50s. That's largely because of all those big-finned Buicks and Cadillacs � relics of a colorfully corrupt era when Tampa's Santo Trafficante Jr. and other U.S. mobsters made Havana one of the world's gambling meccas.
WHITE HOUSE

White House press secy comments on Cuba

PRESS BRIEFING BY PRESS SECRETARY ROBERT GIBBS AND DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE JACK LEW
CBS NEWS

Katie Couric's Notebook: Cuba

The trade embargo made sense a half century ago. During the cold war, Fidel Castro took sides with the enemy, but the Soviet Union is long gone and it's a policy that most Americans alive today can't relate to
SAL LAKE TRIBUNE

Looking for the real Cuba

Even in a place that is theoretically immune to the influence of American tourist dollars, Yankee travelers looking for authenticity in Cuba might find Havana a tough sell. But moments like these, on the seaside boulevard that snakes around Havana's north shore, are as faith-sustaining as they are captivating. And for patient travelers, they always will be.
SUN SENTINEL

Havana's historic architecture at risk of crumbling into dust

Chunks of this city's rich and eclectic architectural history tumble to the ground every few days, piece by piece, forever lost in the rubble.
SUN SENTINEL

Cuba prepares for May Day

Three years after Fidel Castro's last May Day speech and two years after his brother and successor Raul began raising still-unfulfilled expectations for change, the official demonstration of worker power with a march Friday is intended to convey a massive show of support. But what are they supporting?r