Free Republic

Five high-ranking military leaders died in the span of just 10 days, according to the Cuban government — though it’s remained mum on the causes. Brigadier General Armando Choy Rodriguez, 87, was the latest aging revolutionary to die, with Marta Abreu Central University announcing on Twitter that he passed away Monday. Rodriguez was the founder of the “July 26 Movement” in Las Villas, and an author and historian, WPLG-TV in Miami said. Also on Monday, Manuel Eduardo Lastres Pacheco, a former general who served under Argentine Ernesto “Che” Guevara during the revolution in the late 1950s, passed away, Cuban television...

....The protests are among the most dramatic proof ever offered of the failure of a tropical dictatorship that has driven 20 percent of its people into exile. Innumerable promises for a brighter future have been made during this time by the military junta that has ruled Cuba since the days when cars had tailfins and the top songs in the US charts were Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” and Domenico Modugno’s “Volare.” Well, surprise, surprise, the future is here, and the youngsters can clearly see that all of those promises have turned out to be lies. Now, those who were supposed...

Cuba is suffering through a summer of dire shortages, from food and electricity to medicine. Fed-up Cubans are taking to the streets in unprecedented protests — and they're voicing their outrage through a song called Patria y Vida — homeland and life. The slogan is a spin on the communist regime's decades-old slogan of "patria o muerte" — homeland or death. In strong terms, the song accuses the government of destroying the quality of life in Cuba, a message that quickly found traction with protesters who are demanding change. "No more lies. My people demand freedom. No more doctrines!" the...