The United States, particularly the Army, has a long history of involvement with Cuba. It has included, among others, the Spanish-American War of 1898, military interventions in 1906 and 1912, the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, the 1962 Missile Crisis, counterinsurgency, and low intensity warfare in Latin America and Africa against Cuban supported guerrilla movements. After almost 5 decades of authoritarian one-man rule, Fidel Castro remains firmly in power. On July 31, his brother, Raul Castro, assumed provisional presidential power after an official announcement that Fidel was ill and would undergo surgery. What would be the strategic and political implications attendant to Castro’s eventual demise or incapacitation? The author suggests some possible transition or succession scenarios and examines the consequences that might follow and the role that the United States might be called to play.

Cuba has remained a hard-line communist state under Fidel Castro for more than 47 years, but Fidel’s July 31, 2006, announcement that he was ceding political power to his brother Raúl “for several weeks” in order to recover from surgery could be the beginning of a political transition, whether Fidel returns to power or not. Since the early 1960s, U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted largely of isolating the island nation through comprehensive economic sanctions, which have been significantly tightened by the Bush Administration.

Fidel Castro's depredations inside Cuba are by now well known. But less widely appreciated is how Fidel sometimes manages to imprison Cubans in other domiciles even once they've escaped his government's clutches.

Lamenta que no se hayan producido por parte de las autoridades cubanas las señales significativas que la Unión Europea viene reclamando en lo que se refiere al respeto pleno a las libertades fundamentales y, en especial, a la libertad de expresión y de asociación política, y condena el recrudecimiento de la represión así como el aumento del número de presos de conciencia.

Por primera vez sale a la luz pública lo que sienten y piensan los cubanos sobre temas controvertidos. El primer estudio de opinión pública científico que se realiza en Cuba muestra también que la mayoría de los cubanos apoyan el Proyecto Varela y las Damas de Blanco.

Es patético el papel jugado por la Unión Europea. Su actitud ha sido claudicante y servil; su actuación ha sido hipócrita y su alineamiento con Estados Unidos contra los pequeños países como Cuba es una vergüenza. Demuestra la incapacidad de la Unión Europea para articular una política propia e independiente hacia nuestro país.