From El País (translation mine)

The United States and Cuba have concluded their first meeting this Tuesday on migration  issues with a favorable outcome described by both sides as “fruitful.”  This first encounter  addressed ways to achieve a safe, legal and orderly flow in the migration between both countries.

“The U.S.  sees these conversations as a means to achieve practical and positive results that will contribute to bringing about

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From Voice of America News

U.S. lawmakers have heard testimony about continuing weaknesses in U.S.-government funded television broadcasting to Cuba. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) updated members of Congress on steps taken by the Broadcasting Board of Governors and its Office of Cuba Broadcasting on recommendations to deal with management, morale and other problems.

Since its inception in 1990, TV Marti has been the subject of controversy over cost, contracting,

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From World Focus, BBC (here), (and here),  and El País.   OAS member nations have voted to list the suspension of Cuba’s membership imposed since 1962.

Thirty-three of the 34 members of the OAS want to bring Cuba in from the political wilderness and have diplomatic relations with Cuba. But the United States pays for 60 percent of the OAS budget, and OAS headquarters is

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Reuters reports that with an easing of restrictions, the caretakers of Hemingway’s Cuban legacy could better preserve his home and more quickly digitize the thousands of documents.

If Obama eases restrictions enacted by the Bush administration that toughened the U.S. trade embargo, it will help Cuba get the money, equipment and preservation materials needed to maintain the home outside Havana where Hemingway lived for 21 years, Ada Rosa Alfonso, director

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From El País (translation mine)

Internet users in Cuba will no longer be able to use the chat service, Microsoft Windows Live Messenger IM reported the news portal, Cuba Debate. Microsoft  suspended service this week because of the U.S. embargo.

This decision by the software giant surprised the Cubans who have been trying to connect to the service these last several days.  Now when they

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Reuters reports that new measures in U.S.-Cuba relations are fueling invester interest.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors in high risk assets are setting their sights on Cuban securities now more than ever given the cheap prices and the overtures made by the U.S. government toward the island.

Since U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to recast U.S.-Cuba ties in April, investors in high risk

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The New York Times and El País report that the Obama adminsitration is ready to re-open channels with the Cuban government that had been closed during the Bush administration to address the issue of imigration.    The Times also notes, however that this is a gesture to fend off pressure to allow Cuba’s inclusion in the Organization of American States.

The gesture comes as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham

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Just like Spain–after centuries of religious intolerance and repression–dealt with the issues of sexuality and now has a strong public advocacy for gay rights, Cuba may well be next among Hispanic cultures to come out of a seemingly unlikely past with its own progressive solutions.   San Francisco Chronical reports that Raul Castro’s daughter led hundreds of Cuban gays in a street dance to highlight gay rights in Cuba.…

From Radio Cadena Agramonte

By Sergio Morales *

For those who live in the East of Cuba, the changes in the weather and the global heating are more than scientific articles or common phrases used in international forums because their consequences today are the rude reality of an intense drought.

According to the Cuban expert on meteorology Roger Rivero, the current absence of rainfalls is bigger

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The Miami Herald reports the following.

MIAMI — President Barack Obama may be trying to reach out to Cuban leaders, but his 2010 budget suggests he isn’t looking to cut the U.S. government’s controversial broadcasts to the island anytime soon.

The president’s budget proposal calls for about $32.5 million for the broadcasts, down only slightly from last year’s budget of $34.8 million, though it does request some

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