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FROM the very day on which she was born, April 27, 1921, Pastorita Núñez González earned the label "rebellious" because, as the story goes, she wouldn’t stop crying in the midwife’s arms. A label that she never lost, not even now, after a cerebral hemorrhage ended her life, because the dreams that she built remain undefeated.
“Conociendo la fascinación de Castro por el buceo frente a la costa de
Cuba, la CIA invirtió en un tiempo en un gran volumen de moluscos del
Caribe. La idea era encontrar una concha suficientemente grande como
para contener una cantidad letal de explosivos, que entonces sería
pintada con colores suficientemente sensacionales y brillantes como para
atraer la atención de Castro cuando estaba bajo el agua. Documentos
publicados durante el gobierno de Clinton confirmaron que el plan fue
considerado pero, como muchos otros, no llegó mucho más allá del tablero
de dibujo....”
From January 21 through 25, 1998, Cuba gave the world a lesson, one of many. One did not have to be religious to feel the intensity of the encounter between the Cuban people and the Supreme Pontiff. Cuba’s enemies wanted to celebrate. But the idea of an alleged Apocalypse presented by the foreign media ceded to the image of a people who listened with affection and respect to his message. Those five days did not change the history of Cuba, they enriched it.
Fidel is here! It was an expression where there was a mixture of happiness, surprise and admiration, with a sudden power to gather people. During announced or unexpected visits, he used to arrive to factories, fields, dairies, places where there were construction works, health and scientific centers, anywhere in Cuba where Cuban people were working.
There was a time, not too long ago, when any mainstream politician running for statewide or national office in Florida had to rattle off fiery rhetoric against the Cuban government and declare unquestioning faith that the embargo on the island would one day force the Castros from power.
In the new book, "Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana," authors Peter Kornbluh and William LeoGrande use recently declassified documents to expose the secret history of dialogue between the United States and Cuba. Among the revelations are details of how then-U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger considered launching airstrikes against Cuba after Fidel Castro sent troops to support independence fighters in Angola in 1976. In the years that followed, top-secret U.S. emissaries, including former President Jimmy Carter and Nobel Prize-winning…
David W. Dunlap is a Metro reporter and writes the Building Blocks column. He has worked at The Times for 39 years.
Accompanying the Nov. 21 obituary of Richard Eder, a former foreign correspondent and drama critic, was a remarkable photograph by Jack Manning of Mr. Eder earnestly taking notes in the back seat of a vintage Oldsmobile while Fidel Castro pontificated up front.
David W. Dunlap is a Metro reporter and writes the Building Blocks column. He has worked at The Times for 39 years.
Accompanying the Nov. 21 obituary of Richard Eder, a former foreign correspondent and drama critic, was a remarkable photograph by Jack Manning of Mr. Eder earnestly taking notes in the back seat of a vintage Oldsmobile while Fidel Castro pontificated up front.
Four months into the internationally declared Ebola emergency that has devastated west Africa, Cuba leads the world in direct medical support to fight the epidemic. The US and Britain have sent thousands of troops and, along with other countries, promised aid – most of which has yet to materialise. But, as the World Health Organisation has insisted, what’s most urgently needed are health workers. The Caribbean island, with a population of just 11m and official per capita income of $6,000 (£3,824), answered that call before it was made.
FIFTY-SIX YEARS ago today, in 1959, a 32-year-old victorious revolutionary named Fidel Castro arrived at Back Bay Station to face a raucous crowd of 5,000 Bostonians.
He was headed to Harvard, his last stop on a 12-day trip along the East Coast. Asked why he was speaking at Harvard, Castro explained: “That is where you find the real ‘military spirit:’ in students, not in the barracks.”
Castro’s visit aroused so much excitement that Harvard had no auditorium large enough to host his speech. So the Harvard football stadium was converted into an amphitheater.
The United States attempted to prevent Cuban athletes from participating in the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1966. Prohibited from arriving by air, the delegation traveled by sea aboard the Cerro Pelado and went on to win 77 medals
That day I witnessed Fidel grow. His calm faced with the attempted interruption convinced me. I already knew of his power, but I was unaware that he also monopolized the talents of Martí and Maceo. A truly exceptional leader
One afternoon in May 1963, Fidel Castro visited the daily Pravda during his significant first trip to the Soviet Union. On leaving he said: “I would like our daily to be like this, the official voice of the party.”