HAVANA (AP) — Thousands of Cubans were filing through a memorial in Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution on Monday as the nation plunged into a week of services bidding farewell to the man who ruled the country for nearly half a century. One of the first in line was Tania Jimenez, 53, a mathematician who … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Elian Gonzalez, the center of an international custody battle waged by Fidel Castro nearly two decades ago, returned to the public eye Sunday to praise the leader who fought to return him to Cuba. Echoing the round-the-clock adulation on state media, Gonzalez said on government-run television that the Cuban leader’s legacy will … Continue reading
MIAMI (AP) — Isabella Prio was born in Miami, is 20 now and a junior at Boston College who fully expects to return to Cuba someday and help shape the island’s future. But she’s never been to the country where her grandfather was once president and refuses to visit until it’s a democracy. Cherie Cancio, … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — He overthrew a strongman, brought his country free health care and education, and enlisted Cubans in what he called fights for freedom from Central America to South Africa. Fidel Castro also maintained a steel grip at home, jailing dissidents and gays, controlling freedom of travel and expression and declaring virtually any activity … Continue reading
SAO PAULO (AP) — Protesters massed in Brazil’s largest city Sunday to call for the president to be removed from office and express outrage at a host of his policies, while the embattled leader tried to head off some of their criticism. President Michel Temer has suffered a continual drip of scandal and high-level resignations … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — They came for salsa music and mojitos and ended up wandering through a city turned still and silent by nine days of national mourning for Fidel Castro. As Cuba prepares a massive commemoration for the leader of its socialist revolution, tens of thousands of high-season travelers have found themselves accidental witnesses to … Continue reading
LANGA TABIKI, Suriname (AP) — Muddy footpaths wind past empty homes, most collapsing into ruins. Dozens of stores and bars have closed. The most prominent citizen, the chief of a tribe descended from escaped African slaves, has decamped to the capital. A gold mine operated by a U.S.-based company opened recently in the rainforest of … Continue reading
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Soldiers and police fanned out Friday across the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, chasing a wounded gang leader and trying to quell a wave of violence that included the discovery of hidden graves holding dozens of bodies and a camp where gunmen stored the severed heads of nine rivals in a … Continue reading
MIAMI (AP) — Fidel Castro’s death triggered an emotional and long-awaited celebration in Miami’s large Cuban-American community Saturday as peaceful demonstrators waved flags and honked car horns, many cheering with joy and others weeping for family members who didn’t live to see this day. Yet it was also a bittersweet time as most realize Castro’s … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro’s revolution was slowly dying — or so it seemed. Communism had collapsed in Europe, and Cuba’s Soviet lifeline was severed. Food was in short supply. Power outages silenced TV sets normally tuned to a nighttime soap opera. Factories rusted in the tropical heat. The title of an American book seemed … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro’s rule of nearly five decades split many a Cuban family between exile and solidarity with the communist revolution — including his own. While brother Raul was his closest confidant and successor as president, sister Juana, exiled in south Florida, called Fidel a “monster” to whom she hadn’t spoken in more … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Music fell silent, weddings were canceled and people wept in the streets Saturday as Cubans faced their first day without the leader who steered their island to both greater social equality and years of economic ruin. Across a hushed capital, dozens of Cubans said they felt genuine pain at the death of … Continue reading
MERSAN, Haiti (AP) — School always provided a sense of security for 12-year-old Love Manie Simeus. The studious Haitian girl never missed a day of class, often sprinting down the rutted road from her grandmother’s stone-and-concrete shack to arrive before the teachers. But in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, that primary school in the foothills … Continue reading
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Slain reggae legend Peter Tosh is getting some of the same historical treatment in his native Jamaica as the late Bob Marley. A museum devoted to the life and music of Tosh is opening near the Marley museum that has long been a major tourist attraction in the Jamaican capital. The … Continue reading
DAME MARIE, Haiti (AP) — In this most western tip of Haiti, 300 patients with festering wounds lay silently on beds at the main hospital in the seaside village of Dame Marie waiting for medicine a week after Hurricane Matthew hit the remote peninsula. Among the injured was Beauvoir Luckner, a cobbler and farmer who … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 