Tag Archives: Cuba

Most Floridians and indeed much of the GOP are familiar with GOP Sen. Marco Rubio’s oft-told tale of his parents desperately fleeing Fidel Castro’s Cuba as the revolution shook the island. Such bravery! Such risk! Such drama! Slight problem. It never happened. A review of documents — including naturalization papers and other official records — reveals that the Florida Republican’s …

Dubbed or subtitled episodes of Glee routinely air in Latin America, but in what some say signals the continuing expansion of respect and rights in Cuba, a state-run television channel has now added the show. Over at Blabbeando, Andres Duque translates one local review: What draws our attention is how the series treats the case of Kurt, an extremely effeminate …

Calling it a “great injustice,” today Fidel Castro told a Mexican newspaper that he accepts responsibility for Cuba’s persecution of its gay citizens, thousands of whom were rounded up and placed in internment camps during his regime. Castro said that the revolutionary government’s actions represented “a great injustice – a great injustice! – whoever committed it. If we committed it, …

Yesterday Mariela Castro lead a parade of hundreds through the streets of Havana as part of the International Day Against Homophobia. Last year Mariela’s father, Raul Castro, replaced Fidel Castro as president of Cuba. Some of the marchers played drums and others walked on stilts as they made their way down a wide avenue in the capital’s hip Vedado neighborhood, …

So yesterday I’m flipping through the NY Daily News at lunch and when a photo caught my eye I thought, “Oh, who’s that handsome lad?” It was Elian Gonzalez, now 16 years old and still a Cuban hero ten years after his Miami custody battle gripped both nations. Elian’s birthday is a national holiday in Cuba, with parades held in …

Yesterday Cuba celebrated the International Day Against Homophobia as Fidel Castro’s niece led revelers on a raucous conga-line through Havana. Cuban President Raul Castro’s daughter led thousands of citizens in a street dance in central Havana on Saturday to promote gay rights. Cuban Sex Education Center director Mariela Castro kicked off a programme of events promoting respect for freedom of …

Continuing its expansion of LGBT rights, Cuba has announced that it will pay for sex reassignment surgery for any citizen that qualifies. The move is the latest in a series of changes implemented by President Raul Castro since he succeeded his elder brother, Fidel, in February. Raul Castro’s daughter, Mariela, heads Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education, which strongly backs …

Things are continuing to get better for Cuba’s gays. Cuba’s gay community celebrated unprecedented openness – and high-ranking political alliances – with a government-backed campaign against homophobia on the weekend. The meeting at a convention center in Havana’s Vedado district may have been the largest gathering of openly gay activists ever on the communist-run island. President Raul Castro’s daughter Mariela, …

Fidel Castro, 81, announced his retirement in Cuba’s Granma newspaper today. The world’s longest-serving president, Castro has been ruling Cuba for almost 49 years. Reaction in Miami was surprisingly muted: A few people waved flags or honked their cars’ horns, but little jubilation seemed evident as regular customers trickled into the Versailles and other restaurants and open-air coffee stands along …

According to new interview with Fidel Castro’s niece, Cuba is continuing to move towards marriage equality for gays. The Cuban Communist Party is considering granting legal recognition to same-sex unions, as health officials prepare to authorise sex-change operations, the director of the Cenesex sex education centre in Cuba has said. The proposed change to Cuban family law would put members …

Primarily fueled by the activism of Fidel Castro’s niece, Mariela Castro, LGBT rights are advancing in Cuba. The Communist Party is about to introduce a law which would legalize same-sex unions, allow gays to adopt, and grant lesbians access to state-run reproductive services. Trans people are being granted name-change rights, hormone treatments and surgery. Cuba has been under the rule …