WASHINGTON (AP) — It sounds sort of like a mass of crickets. A high-pitched whine, but from what? It seems to undulate, even writhe. Listen closely: There are multiple, distinct tones that sound to some like they’re colliding in a nails-on-the-chalkboard effect. The Associated Press has obtained a recording of what some U.S. Embassy workers … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Frightening attacks on U.S. personnel in Havana struck the heart of America’s spy network in Cuba, with intelligence operatives among the first and most severely affected victims, The Associated Press has learned. It wasn’t until U.S. spies, posted to the embassy under diplomatic cover, reported hearing bizarre sounds and experiencing even stranger … Continue reading
Cuban state news media say 10 people died across the island as it was being battered by Hurricane Irma. Most of them died in Havana, where chest-deep seawater pushed several blocks into densely populated neighborhoods. The state media say several of the deaths occurred in partial building collapses. Much of Cuba’s housing stock is … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Over the last year Ada and Anuma II have broken Marta Llanes’ television and computer key board, chewed her telephone to pieces and ruined much of her furniture. She has forgiven them every transgression. It’s hard to stay angry at a baby chimpanzee when it clambers up your leg and into your … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — A nine-story portrait of a young Fidel Castro has joined the towering images of fallen guerrillas overlooking Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution, the massive square where Cuba on Monday,Nov. 28, begins bidding farewell to the man who ruled the island for nearly half a century. After 10 years of leadership by Castro’s … 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
HAVANA (AP) — Colombia tried a second time to achieve peace, with its government and largest rebel group signing a revised deal to end its brutal conflict following the surprise rejection of an earlier peace accord by voters in a referendum. Government negotiator Humberto de la Calle and rebel negotiator Ivan Marquez announced the new, … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Like so much else in Cuba, shopping for clothes isn’t easy. Buying a simple pair of socks or a T-shirt means choosing between the wildly overpriced, shoddy offerings of state-run stores and the bales of low-priced clothing illegally imported by “mules” traveling from the United States, Ecuador or Panama. This year, a … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — The commander of Colombia’s biggest rebel movement said Sunday its fighters will permanently cease hostilities with the government beginning with the first minute of Monday, Aug 29, as a result of their peace accord ending one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, made … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Otto Macias was 19 when he left Cuba in the throes of a socialist revolution, enlisted in the U.S. Army and went to fight communists as a machine-gunner in Vietnam. He returned from battle in 1969 — broken and suffering from post-traumatic stress and schizophrenia, his family says. After years of hospitalization … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban government announced Tuesday that it is re-imposing a hated travel permit requirement on many doctors, requiring them to get permission to leave the country in an attempt to counter a brain drain that it blames on the United States. It is the first major retreat in Cuba’s policy of allowing … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban officials blamed the United States late Tuesday for instigating a surge in the number of Cuban migrants attempting to reach the U.S. through Central America amid ongoing efforts to normalize relations between the former Cold War foes. In a statement aired on the government’s nightly broadcast, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Relations … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba announced Wednesday that it is launching a long-term plan to preserve its sharks in cooperation with a U.S. environmental group, part of a rapidly accelerating partnership between the two countries aimed at preserving their shared waters in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Straits. Nearly a year after Presidents Barack Obama … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — By midnight, the basement of one of Havana’s hottest clubs is packed wall-to-wall for a private concert by one of Cuba’s biggest pop stars. Squeezed among the usual crowd of sleek young Cubans and paunchy, prowling European tourists, the owner of one of New York’s hippest restaurants discusses his new Havana boutique … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — As vespers drew to a close at the St. Egidio Catholic community center, a dozen homeless men in threadbare pants and rumpled T-shirts shuffled into a side room where volunteers handed out cups of soda and soft yellow rolls spread with mayonnaise. “This is like my home,” said Ernesto Gutierrez, a 66-year-old … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba has published the first photos of Fidel Castro in more than five months, showing the 88-year-old former leader engaged in what appears to be a lively conversation with a university student. Nearly two dozen images were published virtually simultaneously on the websites of Cuba’s main state media outlets around midnight … Continue reading
HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro ended his long silence over his country’s decision to restore diplomatic ties with the United States, writing that he backs the negotiations even though he distrusts politics in Washington. The comments were the first by the 88-year-old revolutionary leader on the talks with the U.S. … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Cut off from the Internet, young Cubans have quietly linked thousands of computers into a hidden network that stretches miles across Havana, letting them chat with friends, play games and download hit movies in a mini-replica of the online world that most can’t access. Home Internet connections are banned for all … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — The start of talks on repairing 50 years of broken relations appears to have left President Raul Castro’s government focused on winning additional concessions without giving in to U.S. demands for greater freedoms, despite the seeming benefits that warmer ties could have for the country’s struggling economy. Following the highest-level open … Continue reading
Publishable Editors Notes: EDITOR’S NOTE: Bradley Klapper, who covered this week’s U.S.-Cuba talks on re-establishing diplomatic relations, offers a first-person perspective about visiting Havana for the first time. HAVANA (AP) — Everyone warns you Old Havana is a facade, but it’s impossible not to be taken by its charms. In my hotel room, … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — The highest-level U.S. delegation to Cuba in decades kicked off two days of negotiations Wednesday after grand promises by President Barack Obama about change on the island and a somber warning from Cuba to abandon hopes of reforming the communist government. U.S. moves to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba and loosen … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — The highest-level U.S. delegation to Cuba in decades kicked off two days of negotiations Wednesday after grand promises by President Barack Obama about change on the island and a somber warning from Cuba to abandon hopes of reforming the communist government. U.S. moves to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba and loosen … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 