Cuba

So, a Cuban walks into his neighborhood barbershop for a trim and a shave on a Havana afternoon. In all likelihood, haircutter and customer argue about baseball. Maybe they discuss Companero Companero Fidel's latest column in Granma. When they finish, the newly coiffed client pays for the services in Cuban pesos; about 15% goes to the state for taxes, and the owner legally pockets the rest. For the record: A previous version of this editorial incorrectly said that since the 1959 revolution, Cuba had "privatized" most of its economy.

President Obama has loosened travel restrictions to Cuba. His critics accuse him of harboring socialist sentiments. And he is, of course, a member of the African American intelligentsia -- a group that has tended, for the last half-century, to have a soft spot for the Cuban revolution. It sounds like the perfect atmosphere for the love affair between black American liberals and the regime of the Castros to fully flourish. Except that it's not. A group of 60 African American artists and thinkers launched a rare -- and some say unprecedented -- attack on Cuba's human rights record, with a particular focus on the treatment of black political dissidents.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z's anniversary trip to Havana, Cuba, was approved by the U.S. government, Treasury officials have said. The recording artists, Beyoncé Knowles Carter and husband Shawn Carter, headed to the island nation last week for their five-year wedding anniversary, raising official eyebrows as the U.S. has had a half-century-old trade embargo on the communist island that prohibits visits solely for the sake of tourism. Once images of the couple visiting Old Havana surfaced, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)

Hurricane Paloma churned toward the Cayman Islands and Cuba with winds of about 75 mph. Forecasters say the storm could become a major Category 3 hurricane by Saturday as it approaches Cuba. A hurricane warning was in effect for the Caymans, where the storm could dump up to 8 inches of rain, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Film director Steven Spielberg, visiting Cuba for the first time, said the United States should end its trade embargo against the communist-run island and allow more cultural interaction with Cubans. "I personally feel that this embargo should be lifted. I do not see any reason for accepting old grudges being played out in the 21st century," Spielberg said at a news conference Monday. "It does not make sense to me that my country will trade with North Korea and China, but not with Cuba."

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze will make a "working visit" to Cuba after this week's U.N. session in New York, Tass announced Thursday. Soviet officials earlier said Shevardnadze will also visit Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina.

If Christopher J. Dodd is elected president, he will end a decades-old trade embargo with Cuba and lift travel restrictions to the communist island, the Democratic candidate pledged Saturday. He'll also open an embassy in Havana and shut down TV Marti, a U.S. government-run station that has broadcast to Cuba for 17 years, said Sen. Dodd of Connecticut. "Other than the war in Iraq, no other American policy is more broadly unpopular internationally" than U.S. policy on Cuba, Dodd.

The reporter obviously did not speak with those people in Cuba who know about the Internet. Moreover, if the reporter wanted to know how many servers there are in Cuba, all one needs to do is go to http://www.cubanic.cu/buscar/search.html. How many people have accounts? Unknown. Real and virtual servers are found, but one needs to know where to look! A simple search of the Internet will reveal hundreds of virtual servers, i.e. black market accounts. NELSON P. VALDES Professor, Sociology Department University of New Mexico Albuquerque

How refreshing to read the firsthand account of conditions in Cuba. It corroborates what I heard from other sources: no homeless, no beggars, no starving children. Free medical care, free education right through graduate school, a clean environment. And despite the severe centralization of power, a human rights record better than that of many of our allies. EUGENE KUSMIAK Fallbrook

Re "Obama calls for new start with Cuba," April 18 It is interesting to note that President Obama never mentioned nor hinted at the need for the Cuban government to make reparations and indemnify U.S. citizens and corporations whose properties were summarily confiscated by the Fidel Castro regime. The same holds for those who are in favor of lifting the embargo and resuming relations with Cuba. How can there possibly be a "new start" unless this issue is resolved? I hope our president does the right thing and makes this point a priority in any future talks with Cuba.