Cuba

MIAMI -- Cuba's parliament signaled yesterday that the status quo of a stunted state-run economy and strained relations with the United States will persist for now as it named Raul Castro to replace his ailing brother Fidel as president and chose another aging revolutionary as the nation's No. 2 leader. The selection of Raul Castro, 76, to head the Council of State had been widely predicted, as he stood loyally by his brother's side throughout a 49-year rule. But the appointment of Jose Ramon Machado, 77, as first vice president surprised Cuba analysts who had expected that a younger candidate would be named to bring change to the country's ossified power structure.

ATLANTA -- Fidel Castro has had a powerful ally in his half-century of brutal rule: the U.S. government. The antiquated U.S. policy of complete isolation has done more to help Mr. Castro maintain his ruthless tyranny than any of his police-state tactics - brutally quashing dissent, ruining (or murdering) potential rivals, and occasionally allowing criminals and troublemakers to flee. Mr. Castro blamed the U.S. embargo for every misery visited upon Cuban citizens, from fuel shortages to food rationing to dwindling medical supplies.

Fidel Castro has made official what seemed inevitable since he disappeared from the spotlight 18 months ago following surgery. His resignation as president of Cuba is the end of an era, but it should also mark the beginning of a new relationship between Cuba and the U.S. This transition of power in Cuba comes with more of a whimper and not the bang with which Mr. Castro led the revolution nearly half a century ago that transformed his country from an...

WASHINGTON -- What the CIA couldn't do with exploding seashells, poison cigars and chemicals to make his beard fall off, Fidel Castro has done alone. He removed himself from a world stage that he seemed to dominate for nearly 50 years. So compelling was this 6-foot-3-inch, Jesuit-trained former lawyer that he inspired and drove revolutionary movements across Central America and Africa. He twisted American policymakers into such awkward knots that the United States has maintained severe economic sanctions against Cuba, and at the same time a naval station on the island's southeastern tip, housing the most notorious alleged terrorists in captivity at Guantanamo Bay. "He survived paramilitary invasions, assassination attempts, trade embargoes, travel bans, diplomatic isolation.

In the 1900s, cafeterias in Cuban sugar mills began selling a crusty sandwich stuffed with seasoned pork, ham, cheese and sour pickles. The Cuban sandwich has since migrated to the United States, where it has developed several variations. In Key West, Fla., according to 1001 Foods to Die For, the sandwich comes with mayonnaise and tomatoes, and in Tampa, Fla., a layer of Genoa salami is added to it. A key factor is that the bulging sandwich is pressed in a panini-like oven. This crisps the bread, releases the pickle's juices and melts the cheese.

ATLANTA -- In October 1962, a young president confronted one of the greatest crises of his century. After U.S. intelligence confirmed that the Soviets were shipping medium-range nuclear missiles to Cuba - missiles easily capable of reaching the United States, just 90 miles away - President John F. Kennedy considered whether to set fire to the Cold War. The press was itching for a first strike by American forces, as was the public. The formidable Dean Acheson, an architect of the U.S. strategy of communist containment, pushed for an invasion of Cuba.

Gallery owner Craig Flinner is bidding goodbye to the Charles Street space he has occupied for more than 20 years as he prepares to move to the Avenue in Hampden. Flinner is the most recent area gallery owner to move to Hampden's exploding art scene. In November, Terrie Fleckenstein moved her eponymous gallery and frame shop there after seven years in Towson. "It seems like Hampden is becoming a real arts center," Flinner says. "People think of it the way it was five or eight years ago but that's changing.

Communism is dead in Russia, a shell of itself in China and just hanging on in Cuba. But Lenin's corpse has a rare reason to smile. A new workers' paradise is sprouting in Venezuela, under the direction of the sometimes clownish but always cunning President Hugo Chavez. Most of the rest of the world learned the folly of autocratic socialism back in the 20th century, but Mr. Chavez prefers to repeat mistakes rather than learn from them. He has nationalized oil holdings, created new state-run firms, confiscated privately owned land and politicized finance, while endeavoring to take over telecommunications and power companies.

When President Bush suggests, as he did yesterday, that the Cuban people should rise up against their despotic leader, he conveniently ignores the fact that U.S. policy toward Cuba has done little to spur a revolt. Decades of isolation - and his administration's toughening of the policy - haven't lessened Fidel Castro's hold on power or diminished the influence of his brother Raul, now serving as the de facto president since Mr. Castro took ill a year ago. Indeed, the only Cubans who have benefited from U.S. policy are the thousands of refugees who are given a free pass to live here.

Asserting that peaceful pressure is growing on Cuba in response to "the dying gasps of a failed regime," President Bush called on Cuban authorities yesterday to abandon their iron grip and promised U.S. assistance if the island takes a democratic course in the post-Fidel Castro era. Bush said the United States would spearhead an international fund to support Cuba, through such means as scholarships and Internet access, if it provides broad freedoms to...