HAVANA — The Cuban government said it plans to pardon 3,522 prisoners over the next 72 hours as a "humanitarian" gesture ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the island beginning next week. But the announcement appeared to rule out pardons for at least some of the dozens of inmates that rights groups consider political prisoners.
The action comes amid worries of a brain drain of Cuban medical professionals as the Communist-ruled island loosens long-time restrictions on emigration.
A fierce opponent of Cuba's Communist regime, Posada Carriles broke his collar bone and cracked several ribs in the accident, his attorney told the Spanish-language newspaper El Nuevo Herald. Cuban officials accuse Posada Carriles of masterminding the downing of a Cuban jet off Barbados in 1976 that killed 73 people.
For many listeners, their warm feelings for Cuban music and the Cuban people began with that 1997 Buena Vista Social Club album. The "Adiós Tour" offers perhaps the last chance to share an evening with some of the club's original members.
His goal, he says, is to give Cuban farmers a way to make a living at a time when so many have given up on it and moved to urban areas. "If we don't want foreign companies to come in and dominate Cuban agriculture all over again, that means we need to give Cuban families a way to stay on their farms," said Funes, who grew up at an agricultural research station where his father, a crop scientist, and his mother, a biologist, both worked.
American would become the second major U.S. airline to take advantage of loosened restriction on travel between the two longtime enemies, after JetBlue launched direct charter flights between New York and Havana last month.
The American flag was raised Friday over the U.S. Embassy in Havana beside the three Marines who last lowered the Stars and Stripes more than a half-century ago in a day of history-making symbolism as more Cold War vestiges were put to rest.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry arrives in Havana Friday for a ceremony to raise the Stars and Stripes once more at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba. He'll meet with dissidents later in the day.
The Cuban government says the only obstacles to improved Internet access are technical and financial, not political or ideological. It has set a goal of 50 percent household penetration by 2020.
