Havana, Cuba
By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – As news of the death of the "King of Pop" spread last Thursday night, a group of fans and Jackson impersonators gathered in a tiny Havana living room in disbelief. They huddled around a shortwave radio and tuned to Florida stations, hoping someone would say it was all a hoax.
"We’re stunned and heartsick. For us, Michael was the sun," said Nestor Hernandez. "All of a sudden, the skies darkened."
For the most part, Michael Jackson’s controversies didn’t tarnish his fame in Cuba. As Cuba’s state-run media is devoid of celebrity gossip, many fans know all about his talent but nothing about his troubles.
After his death on Thursday, Cuban radio and TV hosts paid tribute to the American pop star and his musical creations with scant references to his excesses with drugs, spending or sexual molestation charges.
The daily Granma, published by Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, reported on Jackson’s death, describing him as a "magnificent talent with a strange personal life," without providing any further explanation.
"Radio Rebelde," the island’s main radio station, abandoned regular rush-hour programming Friday morning to run news of Jackson’s death and play some of his most popular hits from decades ago while fans called in with accolades and requests.
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By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – General Motors may be losing ground to foreign competition at home, but in Cuba the American automaker remains king.
The popular GM models that rolled down Havana's streets in the '40s and '50s are still spitting out fumes.
Government restrictions bar most Cubans from buying new cars, so drivers have kept over 30,000 of these vintage American models on the road - the good majority - classic Chevy's.
Some of the autos are collector's jewels, in show-car condition. But most live on the streets as un-restored workhorses.
Click on the video below to see NBC News' Mary Murray report from Havana.
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By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – Washington and Havana must travel a long road in order to re-establish relations broken almost 50 years ago, but both governments seem ready to take the first cautious steps.
At the suggestion of the Obama White House, the two sides plan to sit down to talk about immigration issues and restoring direct mail service.
The Cuban government not only agreed to the talks, but also suggested taking further steps. Havana believes the two adversaries could cooperate in fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and hurricane disasters.
While just the tip of the iceberg in the U.S.-Cuba cold war, this warming trend helped a group of American athletes to travel to the island this past weekend for the first time in 12 years.
Team USA came here to compete with 240 athletes from 15 countries in a two-day track and field meet for the America’s Cup in combined events.
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By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – President Barack Obama may have charmed audiences all around the world and been all smiles with strongmen such as Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez – but don’t count Fidel Castro as one of his fans.
In his latest blog, posted last evening, the former Cuban president took issue with a number of remarks Obama made during a Sunday news conference at the close of the Summit of the Americas.
Castro accused the president of "arrogance" and "superficiality" while also criticizing his support of Washington’s trade embargo on the island, stating Obama has now made the "failed" policy "his own."
The 82-year-old Castro also said that Obama had "interpreted badly" statements and supposed signals of conciliation from his brother Raúl, now president, who recently remarked that his government was willing to discuss "everything" with the Obama administration, including "human rights, press freedoms and political prisoners."
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| Javier Galeano / AP |
| An employee of the Defense of the Revolution Committee reads an issue of the Cuban newspaper Granma next to an image of Fidel Castro in Havana on Wednesday. |
The apparent openness of that statement, made last Thursday during a meeting of leftist leaders in Venezuela, sparked speculation both in the United States and here in Cuba that the two adversaries could be heading to the negotiating table.
Obama even characterized Raúl Castro’s remarks as an "advance" and underscored that he was encouraged by them.
But he then called on Havana to free political prisoners and to slash the official exchange rate of the U.S. dollar on family remittances.
And that clearly riled Fidel Castro.
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By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
Cuba’s southern Isle of Youth was battered by two powerful hurricanes last summer, including Gustav, the worst storm to hit here in 50 years.
Gustav, a Category 4 hurricane, packed 140 mph winds that turned 95 percent of the homes on the Isle of Youth into rubble and decimated the entire power grid.
A week later Hurricane Ike swept through and washed away the few buildings that had been left standing.
The army chief on the ground accessing the damage, Maj. Gen. Alvaro Lopez, described the island as looking like the "remnants of a nuclear blast."
But in what seems to be nothing short of a miracle, the fast-moving storms only minimally impacted the coast and natural wildlife.
While the hurricanes did cause some beach erosion, especially along the southern coast, the small island’s protected coral reefs remain untouched and the wide range of underwater life continues to thrive.
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By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – Cuba’s President Raul Castro sure knows how to get the nation to sit up and listen.
While most people were at school or work and far away from their TV sets on Monday, a news announcer read a typed sheet of paper announcing the reshuffling of 10 Cabinet positions and the collapse of four key ministries into two. But by the end of the day, the shake-up was all people were talking about.
The Cuban public seemed most surprised by the removal of two men closely aligned with Raul’s predecessor, Fidel Castro, and pegged as the frontrunners of the next generation of leaders.
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| Javier Galeano / AP File |
| President Raul Castro, right, stands with then-Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque during a session of the National Assembly of Popular Power in Havana on June 29, 2007. |
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque was replaced by his own deputy, Bruno Rodriguez. And Dr. Carlos Lage lost his job as Cabinet Secretary to Brig. Gen. Jose Amado Ricardo Guerra, but Lage remains one of the Council of State’s vice presidents.
Both men are popular leaders, especially with the island’s younger generations.
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By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – Cuba’s government took a significant step toward improving relations with the Roman Catholic Church this past weekend. President Raul Castro attended mass with the island’s Catholic hierarchy and thousands of faithful
to beatify a 19th century Cuban friar known as the "father of the poor."
For months leading up to the beatification of Friar Jose Olallo Valdes, the Cuban press – which normally ignores religious news – published half a dozen stories depicting his life.
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| AP |
| Cuba's President Raul Castro, right, greets Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins during the beatification ceremony for Friar Jose Olallo Valdeslallo Valdes on Nov. 29. |
At the same time, no one interfered with the church as it put up posters with Olallo’s portrait across the island.
Those events along with President Castro’s surprise attendance Saturday at Camaguey’s Church of the Virgin of Charity are being seen as positive signs of the growing rapprochement between Cuba’s communist government and the Catholic Church.
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By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – It didn’t take long for Cubans to hear about the success of Barack Obama.
The girl’s dorm at Havana’s V.I. Lenin High School broke into cheers after 17-year-old Gabriela Sanchez received a cell phone text message from her mom watching the U.S. election results on satellite TV.
Housewife Rosa Llanos heard the news on short wave radio and thought about her daughter and grandchild living in South Florida. She wants Obama to stick to his promise to lift current U.S. restrictions that limit family visits to once every three years.
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| EPA |
| A woman combs her hair as she watches the news on Cuban TV about the newly-elected U.S. President Barack Obama, in Havana, Cuba on Wednesday. |
That same wish was echoed by child psychiatrist Ana Teresa Martinez who sees young patients suffering from "the trauma of families divided by the Straits of Florida."
All through the night, Fernanda Hernandez spoke with her sibling Patricia, calling from Miami with regular election updates. These sisters too want changes in U.S. policy with Cuba.
Car mechanic Boris Ruiz working the night shift heard the news on Cuban TV and immediately called his wife. "I woke her up but I needed to tell someone the good news," Ruiz said.
For the first time in his life, Ruiz sees "a chance to normalize relations with the United States and that will make my life better."
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By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – When it comes to the
U.S. presidential elections, the Cuban public doesn’t believe everything it’s told.
For more than a year, Cuban officials and the state-run media have been hammering away at the U.S. voting process, criticizing the influence that big money plays in electoral outcomes and dismissing both candidates along with their proposed policy toward the island.
No surprise there, given that Havana has spent the past 50 years battling a White House occupied by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Even retired and ailing Fidel Castro dedicated 11 different editorials since the presidential primaries began to belittling the U.S. elections, equating the process with the seriousness of a "Sunday afternoon card game" and accusing both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain of planning to starve the island into submission.
And other Cuban officials have echoed that disdain for anything American.
Recently parliament president Ricardo Alarcón advised voters looking for "real change" to cast their ballot for Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney or independent Ralph Nader. Neither Obama nor McCain, predicted Alarcón, will transform much of anything.
But the Cuban public isn’t falling for the rhetoric.
Instead of just parroting the editorial line from state-run media, people are watching and weighing the U.S. election. They’re forming their own strong opinions instead of conforming to the prevailing official view.
Furthermore, many people believe that the outcome on Nov. 4 does matter. Some even argue that their own futures are at stake.
"I’m hoping that the American people will elect someone who will be open to changing relations with Cuba and allow free travel," said Alejandro Sene, 22, who dances with the National Ballet of Cuba and dreams of performing on the U.S. stage. "We need the breathing space."
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Music and dancing fill the streets of Santiago, Cuba from sundown to the first light of dawn. Contagious drum rhythms draw people out of their homes into endless conga lines -- some lasting as long as six hours. NBC News' Mary Murray reports on the colorful celebrations that mark the founding of Cuba's second largest city.
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