Did Obama Just Reset the Entire Western Hemisphere?

For Five Decades, the U.S. Has Obsessed Over a Small Caribbean Island at the Expense of Its Policy Toward All of Latin America

I was absorbed in a project Wednesday morning when out of the corner of my eye I started seeing references to big news out of Cuba in various incoming email subject lines. “That’s it, he’s finally kicked the bucket,” I thought as I clicked on my browser to do a news dive, assuming Fidel Castro had died.

That no other big news out of Cuba seemed conceivable is a sign of how tediously stuck the narrative of the U.S.-Cuba telenovela has seemed in recent years. Our Cold War antagonism with …

When Kids Crossed the Border with the U.S. Government’s Help

In the 1960s, Operation Pedro Pan Brought Children Like Me Out of an Unstable Cuba

The images in recent weeks of minors crossing the border, unaccompanied and scared, fleeing violence and uncertain futures in their home countries, many seeking their relatives already in the United …

It’s Monday Night in Hollywood. That Means Salsa.

Whirling and Wondering at El Floridita, Where the Food Is Cuban, the Dancing Is Pan-American, and the Setting Is This Strange Place Called Los Angeles

¿De dónde eres?” asks the young man who offered me his hand and guided me onto the dance floor moments ago. He’s an intuitive leader, and, wedged as we are …

When Did Cuba Stop Being Sexy?

The U.S.-Cuba Saga Feels Like an Aging Soap Opera. Here’s Hoping President Obama’s Handshake With Raúl Castro Shakes Things Up.

Barack Obama’s handshake with Raúl Castro at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service made headlines around the world, but it’s understandable that the president’s “selfie” with Danish leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt received more …

How Cuba Dies

My Grandfather’s Memory Is Fading, and So Is My Family Connection to the Island

When I was 23, I strapped a backpack on my shoulders and took off for Europe. It was exactly the kind of backpacking trip you think of a 23-year-old taking, …

It’s a Great Escape–Unless You Can’t Leave

Cuba’s History and the American Imagination

In the American imagination, Cuba is the land of Castro, cars, communism and cane (sugar), a place that offers an escape from the realities of history and the world.

But for …