HAVANA - Cuban authorities released noted blogger Yoani Sanchez more than a day after she was taken into custody near the eastern city of Bayamo, where she traveled for a Spanish man’s trial over a car crash that killed another prominent dissident. Sanchez said via Twitter that authorities “deported” her and her husband back to their Havana home late Friday night, and that she had been held for 30 hours. “We were released! Thanks to all those who raised their voices...

The Communist leader also sought to buy weapons from arms dealers connected with Germany's extreme Right, showing the extent to which he was prepared to collaborate with his ideological enemies to prevent a US invasion on the Caribbean isle. Papers released this week by the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) - the German foreign intelligence agency - show information gathered by German operatives 50 years ago during the tense days of the Cuban missile crisis. They reveal that Castro personally...

Lebanese shi'ite Hezbollah, an ally with Iran, congratulated on Tuesday Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez for his reelection, positive that his victory is because of the "prestige of the Bolivarian revolution" and refusal of the "intervention and domination" policies. His (President Chávez's) word "is one of the rare ones that advocate the establishment of a fair, balanced world system." In a press release, the shi'ite group added that...

HAVANA (Reuters) - Prominent Cuban dissident Marta Beatriz Roque began a hunger strike on Monday along with 22 others to bring attention to what she described as the government's persecution of its opponents. She accused the government of conducting a vicious campaign of attacks and harassment against dissidents that has worsened in recent months. Roque, who is 67, vowed to refuse medications and to only drink water, which could bring a quick death, she said, because she suffers from...

US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, rejected Tuesday budget cuts to programs aimed at promoting democracy in Venezuela and Cuba, which were proposed by the US Department of State. "The sharp cut in democracy funds for Cuba and Venezuela sends a wrong message to the internal opposition in these countries," Ros-Lehtinen said during a hearing at the House Foreign Affairs Committee to review the budget of the US Department of...

The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, better known by its acronym "ALBA," strongly condemned the current violence in Syria on Sunday. But the ALBA group wasn't condemning the slaughter of civilians by the Assad dictatorship, but violence that it said was being committed by "irregular groups supported by foreign powers." The ALBA group, which consists of Latin America's far-left led countries Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua and a handful of Caribbean...

Iran's president on Tuesday lauded his country's newly launched Spanish-language satellite TV channel, saying it would deal a blow to "dominance seekers" - remarks that were an apparent jab at the U.S. and the West. The launch is Tehran's latest effort to reach out to friendly governments in Latin America and follows Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's four-nation tour of the region earlier in January, which included stops in Cuba and visits to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador. It also comes...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Cuba Wednesday for a brief visit that is the third stop in his Latin American tour. Ahmadinejad was to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro later Wednesday, after lecturing at the University of Havana. Cuban diplomatic sources in Havana said that Ahmadinejad also has plans to meet with historic Cuban leader Fidel Castro. As he arrived in the communist island in the Caribbeann, Ahmadinejad lifted two fingers in a sign of victory. He was coming...

Hezbollah has established a center of operations in Cuba in order to expand its terrorist activity and facilitate an attack on an Israeli target in South America, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the attack is meant to avenge the death of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah. The organization alleges that Israel was behind his 2008 assassination. According to the report, three Hezbollah members have already arrived in Cuba with the purpose of...

"Every Sunday the beatings are worse, but they will have to kill us because we will continue going to mass.” Santiago de Cuba / August 21, 2011 At 7 a.m. the homes of five human rights defenders in three municipalities in Eastern Cuba were under siege by paramilitary forces and by pro government mobs: three in “Palma Soriano”, one in “Palmarito de Cauto”, and another one in “El Caney”, to prevent the Ladies in White and female supporters from...