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CARACAS, Venezuela — A former Venezuelan army general on Thursday denounced what he called the widespread involvement of Cuban troops in President Hugo Chavez's military. Former Brig. Gen. Antonio Rivero, who used to head the government's emergency management agency, said his decision to retire from the army this month was motivated mainly by "the presence and meddling of Cuban soldiers" in Venezuela's armed forces. He told reporters that Cubans are now involved in training troops, including courses for snipers, and are also playing a role in intelligence, weapons, communications and other areas. There was no immediate reaction from Chavez's government....

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez has turned to his friends in Cuba for help in tackling Venezuela's energy crisis, drawing criticism for seeking advice from the communist-led island that has struggled with its own electricity woes. Chavez gave few details on Wednesday about what is expected of Cuba, but insisted that "it's valuable experience that's serving us well." He said that he spoke for hours Tuesday with Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdes after his arrival in Venezuela to lead the consulting team. The decision to seek help from Cuba bewildered Venezuelans coping with the nation's power shortage. "It's laughable...

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is making another overture to Cuba, asking the island's communist government to resume talks that his predecessor halted on legal immigration of Cubans to the United States.

A top U.N. official accused the United States of committing inhuman "atrocities" in Iraq and Afghanistan during a speech Wednesday to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. "The aggressions against Iraq and Afghanistan and their occupations constitute atrocities that must be condemned and repudiated by all who believe in the rule of law in international relations," said U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. • Click here to see the speech. D'Escoto claimed that U.S. actions have directly led to more than a million Iraqi civilian deaths since 2003, a vastly inflated figure that does not correspond with the...

HAVANA – President Raul Castro abruptly removed some of Cuba's most powerful officials Monday, putting a personal stamp on the government in the biggest shakeup since he took over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro a year ago. The changes replaced some key Fidel loyalists, including the longtime foreign minister and the secretary of the Council of State, with men closer to Raul. They also reduced the enormous powers of a vice president credited with saving Cuba's economy after the fall of the Soviet Union. But analysts saw no immediate indication that the changes are related to hopes for closer...

(Jose Rodriguez, 87. I be he remembers the 'change' Cuba got in 1959.)

ISLA MUJERES, Mexico — Mexico agreed Monday to deport Cubans who sneak illegally through Mexican territory to reach the U.S., a step toward cutting off an increasingly violent and heavily used human trafficking route. The agreement signed by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa also criticized U.S. policy that generally allows Cubans who reach U.S. territory to stay, while turning back most caught at sea. Cuban migrants in recent years have increasingly headed for Mexico — often to the coast near Cancun — then overland to Texas because it has become so hard to...

In search of someone - anyone - on this planet who is not in love with Barack Obama, I am in the banquet hall of a Cuban restaurant in the Miami suburbs, and there are dozens of men and women around me and they are hollering "McCain! McCain! Sí McCain!" A man shouts out in Spanish that I am a political reporter from Canada visiting South Florida. He asks for a show of hands declaring presidential preference. The result: John McCain, about 50; Mr. Obama, two. And the room is just beginning to fill. Soon there will be 250 people...

Many Cubans here are fond of saying, "Things are not meant to be understood." After a couple of days, you get a sense of what they're talking about. Havana is a city of contrasts and contradictions, a place where the most spectacularly restored colonial building can stand near two crumbling structures held in place by wooden planks. A place that endured a decade of daily blackouts ... A place where an egg can cost, in Cuban pesos, 15 cents, 90 cents or 1.50 - depending on where it is purchased. Each Cuban receives a monthly allowance of food, referred to...

HAVANA - Ailing leader Fidel Castro on Monday denied U.S. presidential hopeful John McCain's claim that Cuban agents helped torture American prisoners of war in Vietnam in the 1960s, calling the assertion "a strange legend." "Let me remind you, Mr. McCain: the commandments of the religion you practice prohibit lying," Castro wrote in an essay published by the Communist Party newspaper Granma. "The years in prison and the wounds received because of the attacks on Hanoi do not excuse you from the moral obligation of the truth," the essay added. McCain, Republican front-runner for the November presidential contest, was a...

MIAMI -- The Latin Builders Association basked in the attention of four Republican candidates today, all of whom pledged to pay attention to issues prized by Latino voters. While Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) came at the end of the day, as association members were sipping cocktails, he came with a key guest: Sen. Mel Martinez, who formally announced he is endorsing his colleague for president. "The man that we should trust with the leadership of our nation as commander in chief ought to be John McCain," Martinez said, breaking into a mix of Spanish and English. "This is a man...

HAVANA (AFP) - Cubans Sunday cast show-of-support votes for a new National Assembly which will choose the country's president amid doubts about whether ailing Fidel Castro will retake the reins of the only communist government in the Americas. Castro, who has been sidelined from power for nearly 18 months following major intestinal surgery, is among 614 uncontested candidates for the legislature, which will name 31 lawmakers to the Council of State led by the president. The election is free of surprises and choices. But the new assembly will be closely watched as it will name by March 5 a new...

"United States policy must continue to stand with the Cuban people and against those who have oppressed, terrorized, and murdered so many Cubans over the past half-century. This was my position when I served in the Senate; it is my position today; it will be my position as President. Fidel and Raul Castro are unaccountable dictators who can serve no role in Cuba’s future. We must continue supporting the growing internal opposition in Cuba while also denying the regime any source of funding that could prop up this cruel, illegitimate government. This means keeping current sanctions in place, and increasing...

Editor’s Note: By participating in the historic Spanish-language debate on Univision, Republican candidates finally realized that they need Latino votes. But is it “too little, too late?" NAM editor Elena Shore monitors Spanish language media. The first Spanish-language Republican presidential candidate debate couldn’t have come at a better time for the GOP. Latino support for the Republican Party has dropped substantially when the Latino vote is more important than ever. The candidates’ jostling over who is tougher on immigration has alienated Latinos even further. Seven of the eight Republican presidential candidates showed up at the University of Miami Sunday with...

Just Three Weeks Before Dallas, Feds Uncovered Plot to Kill JFK in Chicago, Says Ex-Secret Service Agent By CHUCK GOUDIE, WLS-TV Nov. 22, 2007 — A former Secret Service agent has told WLS-TV there was a plot to kill President Kennedy in Chicago three weeks before he was assassinated in Dallas. Kennedy was murdered on Nov. 22, 1963. Today is the 44th anniversary of JFK's assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald would never have had the chance to kill Kennedy in Dallas, had an assassination plot in Chicago succeeded three weeks earlier, a plot that has been mentioned over the years. Kennedy...

Fred Thompson's campaign named a handful of volunteer grassroots leaders in Miami-Dade to help boost its outreach to Latino voters -- a territory rival Rudy Giuliani is putting great effort in reaching. County leadership positions announced today include co-chairs: Homestead Mayor Lynda Bell and Miami-Dade Commissioners Joe Martinez and Natacha Seijas. The latter two previously endorsed Thompson when he appeared at Miami's Urbeita Oil in October. Other's involved Lois Jones, Chris Miles and Luis Rodriguez.

GENEVA - The United Nations has expressed regret that undercover Cuban officials attended a U.N. news conference on human rights, where they sought information on a French journalist asking critical questions about Fidel Castro's regime. Elena Ponomareva, spokeswoman for the global body's European headquarters, said she was unable to prevent two Cuban diplomats from entering the Oct. 11 news event with Jean Ziegler, a U.N. rights expert who was preparing for a mission to the communist-run island. The U.N. strictly prohibits government officials from attending news conferences unless they are explicitly invited and included among those presenting. Previous run-ins have...

All of the Republican presidential contenders have turned down an invitation to speak in Orlando to the nation's largest gathering of Hispanic elected officials, at a time when their constituents are poised to be a powerful force in the 2008 election. Making the GOP field's absence particularly conspicuous, all of the leading Democratic candidates are planning to address NALEO, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, on June 30. The Republicans were asked to participate in a forum the previous day. About 1,000 Hispanic leaders, representing the fastest-growing part of the electorate, are expected at the conference. Hispanic...

Either by chance or by design, a growing number of Venezuelans -- more than 2,000 since 2002 -- are marrying Cuban refugees on the fast track for green cards, and drawing scrutiny from U.S. immigration officials. The escalation coincides with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's increasing ties to Cuba's Fidel Castro, which have prompted thousands of Venezuelans to flee and then overstay their visas in the United States. In South Florida, attorneys say marriages between Cuban refugees and Venezuelan immigrants top the list of non-Cubans marrying Cubans, followed by Colombians and Mexicans.

CLICKRomney advertisement appeals to Cuban voters- Radio AUDIO Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is appealing to Cuban voters in South Florida with a radio commercial saying he will meet with exile leaders. This is the second political ad the former Massachusetts governor has broadcast in Florida. A television ad introducing Romney to GOP primary voters had a limited run in Tampa and Orlando last month. The 30-second radio ad features former Florida GOP Chairman Al Cardenas, who tells listeners: "This great nation needs a new dawn and the leader that could bring us hope is Mitt Romney. "Mitt Romney is...