THE POPE’S VISIT TO CUBA

Pilgrims to Cuba hope pope’s visit will signal change

The people who have applied to go to Cuba for the Pope’s March visit are diverse, but all believe in the power of prayer and reconciliation.

• Cuban archbishop evacuates Ladies in White from basilica amid fears of police beating
• The World Desk: The Catholic Church and Cuba

CUBA

Cuban archbishop evacuates Ladies in White from basilica amid fears of police beating

Archbishop of Santiago uses two church vans to evacuate Ladies in White from El Cobre Basilica amid fears that police would beat them.

• Pilgrims to Cuba hope pope’s visit will signal change

CUBA

Cuban dissident Fariñas says police to punish agent who threatened him

Police tell Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas that the government agent who threatened to kill him will be punished.

CUBA

ALBA nations want Cuba at summit with U.S., but no decision on threatened boycott

But the mostly leftist nations put off a decision on boycotting the gathering until host Colombia replies to their demand that Cuba be invited.

CUBA

Cuban dissident tells Congress Pope must intervene in Cuba

Cuban dissident would like to see the pontiff address political oppression during his visit to the communist island nation next month.

• Radio host talks on Pope's visit to Cuba

War court

Pentagon charges former U.S. resident at Guantánamo in terror plot

The Pentagon’s war crimes prosecutor proposes to put a graduate of a suburban Baltimore high school now detained at Guantánamo on trial for attempting to kill Pakistan’s president and conspiring to blow up gas stations.

• Ex-U.S. resident writes of alleged torture
• Document | Majid Khan 2007 torture motion

Awaiting pope: New Castro, same mess of an economy

Fourteen years after the last papal visit, some reforms have taken root in Cuba, but the economy is still an unmitigated mess.

American Alan Gross' contractor work in Cuba detailed

Piece by piece, in backpacks and carry-on bags, American aid contractor Alan Gross made sure laptops, smartphones, hard drives and networking equipment were secreted into Cuba. The most sensitive item, according to official trip reports, was the last one: a specialized mobile phone chip that experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals virtually impossible to track.

• http://twitter.com/desmondbutler
• http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2012/cuba-gross/