Word: cuba
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...with this large man, his knees cramped up near his chin. He was so nonchalant, and had not uttered any commands or taken out a gun or any of the other ostensible signs of carjacking, and so it dawned on us that this was what happened in Rome. In Cuba, that is. Here hitchhiking is custom. Hitchhiking is essential. Hitchhiking is what makes Cuba move. All those other people on the median strip? All waiting for rides. Perhaps a bus, yes, if they have a few hours to lose. But until then there are cars, and occasionally the back...
...Although he has alarmed the country's traditional elites as well as foreign investors with his left-leaning policies and his overt admiration for Cuba's President Fidel Castro, Chavez last week received a ringing endorsement from his electorate when 72 percent of voters supported his new constitution in a referendum. The constitution entrenches the president's power and allows him to potentially remain in office until 2012. It also affirms state ownership of Venezuela's oil industry, which Chavez hopes will fuel his "new economy" that redistributes wealth among the poor. While the flood is a win-win scenario...
Elian's case, while unusually heart wrenching, has much in common with other recent waterborne escapes from Cuba. This year the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted 1,265 Cuban balseros, or rafters--double the number from last year. As many as 60 others are believed to have drowned. Driving the exodus are Cuba's poverty and political repression, generous U.S. immigration rules for Cubans and the unprecedented rise of paid refugee smugglers. Elizabet's boyfriend Lazaro Munero charged $1,000 each from the 13 passengers whom he jammed into his 17-ft. powerboat...
...reason for the hardball in Elian's case: next week U.S. and Cuban officials are set to haggle over immigration issues. Cuba wants Washington to end the "wet feet, dry feet" rules that allow any Cuban who makes it to U.S. soil to be eligible for refugee status, while those intercepted by the Coast Guard are sent back. Elian will be oblivious to the debate: he celebrates his sixth birthday this week...
...Friday, Fidel Castro drew more than 2 million people into Cuba's streets to demand the return of the boy, who is currently staying with a great-aunt and great-uncle in Miami. The same day, Florida relatives filed a claim for political asylum on the boy's behalf, to prevent him from returning home to his natural father, with whom he remains close. While the U.S. has urged Elian's father to make a formal claim with immigration authorities, legal challenges by the boy's relatives - backed by Cuban exile organizations - are likely to delay his early return...