Free Republic

This Emmy-award winning short is a tribute to all veterans of the armed forces.

U.S. Diplomat Says Transition Under Way in CubaFri Mar 29, 2:49 AM ETBy Anthony Boadle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has stepped up support for a growing dissident movement in Cuba in an effort to speed up a peaceful transition to democracy, the top U.S. diplomat on the island said on Thursday. "The transition, in fact, is under way. I believe it started when (President) Fidel Castro (news - web sites) fainted in public," Vicki Huddleston, chief of the U.S. interests section in Havana, told reporters on a visit to Washington. The momentary collapse of the 75-year-old leader in...

Huddleston now has Washington's blessing to freely speak with journalists, something she could not do under President Clinton. She has traveled repeatedly to Miami for interviews, telling reporters she believes a transition began in Cuba a year ago when Castro fainted briefly during a speech in the searing sun. HAVANA (AP) - U.S. diplomat Vicki J. Huddleston was in Cuba almost three years before she shook Fidel Castro's hand for the first time. Until the airport greeting ceremony for former President Jimmy Carter in May, Huddleston had never been in a situation calling for her and Castro to be...