Mexican authorities have rescued six undocumented Cuban migrants who had been held for ransom for a month in Cancun, a vacation hotspot on the nation's Yucatan Peninsula, the state-run Notimex news agency reported Wednesday. [More]

A federal appeals court has upheld a Florida law that restricts students, faculty members, and researchers at the state's public colleges and universities from traveling to Cuba and four other countries that the U.S. government considers terrorist states. [More]

In order to provide an accurate backdrop with regard to the announcement of the Cuban government’s release and forced exile of 52 political prisoners, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) releases an exclusive video documentary short of the “Ladies in White,” a civil society group inside Cuba that organizes peaceful Sunday marches for freedom and human rights. [More]

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez said on Tuesday that his government will announce a new ID card that citizens will have to use in order to buy products at government run stores and supermarkets. [More]

“You must turn in your passport!” So they told him on arriving in Caracas, to prevent him from making it to the border and deserting. In the same airport they read him the rules: “You cannot say that you are Cuban, you can’t walk down the street in your medical clothes, and it’s best to avoid interacting with Venezuelans.” Days later he understood that his mission was a political one, because more than curing some heart problem or lung infection, he was supposed to examine consciences, probe voting intentions. [More]

Franklin Brito, a farmer from the state of Bolívar in southeastern Venezuela who had been on a hunger strike protesting because the Chavez's government stole his land without compensation, died on Monday night at Caracas Military Hospital where he had been held against his will since last December. [More]

While everyone is talking about the 26 dissidents who have been released from the Castro brothers' Gulag and forced to travel to Spain, another 8 dissidents have been arrested to fill the vacated space. [More]

Gosh, maybe if we were only nice to Castro," goes the liberal mantra on Cuba.
In fact, the U.S. elite's fetish for "engagement" with Fidel Castro began before he was even in "office."
"Me and my staff were all Fidelistas." (Robert Reynolds, the CIA's "Caribbean Desk's specialist on the Cuban Revolution" from 1957-1960.)
"Everyone in the CIA and everyone at State was pro-Castro, except [Republican] ambassador Earl Smith." (CIA operative in Santiago Cuba, Robert Weicha.) [More]

On Saturday night, I attended the presentation of "Zapata Vive," a documentary by El Instituto de la Memoria Histórica Cubana Contra el Totalitarismo y Plantados Hasta la Libertad y la Democracia en Cuba.

The documentary, directed by Wenceslao Cruz, produced by Pedro Corzo and with original music by Miguel Ulíses, was shown at Belen Jesuit School's Teatro Roca. [More]

It seems that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's ostomy pouching system, best known as a colostomy bag, suffered a malfunction today and everything that was contained on it went directly to what's left of his brain. [More]

Former Cuban prisoner of conscience Ariel Sigler Amaya, appeared last night in A Mano Limpia on Channel 41 in Miami, only hours after being discharged from Jackson Memorial Hospital. [More]

Venezuela's news channel, Globovisión, is reporting that a "small explosive device" exploded outside the residence of Cuban doctors in Chacao, a suburb of Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

No injuries and only minor damages was reported. [More]

I received a letter from a reader in Germany, Nick, asking some questions about our coverage of Cuba and Venezuela and saying that his posts are being "censured" in other blogs.
Since we are open to all opinions, as long as they do it in a civilized way, I am posting his e-mail and my response. [More]

Ariel Sigler Amaya, a former Cuban political prisoner and one-time heavyweight boxer will be discharged from a Miami Hospital Thursday, nearly one month after arriving from Cuba following his release from a Cuban prison where he spent 7 years.
Sigler, 46, was admitted to Jackson Memorial Hospital on July 28th. He was paralyzed from the waist down. Soon after he was admitted, Sigler began physical therapy at Jackson's Rehabilitation Hospital, where after one week; doctors were impressed with his progress. [More]

What the fall from grace of Fidel Castro’s Chilean business crony says about Cuba’s uncertain economic times. [More]