Fidel Castro

Ozzie Guillen has caused some controversy less than a week into his first season as manager of the Miami Marlins. That didn't take long, did it? The ever-outspoken Guillen, a former World Series-winning manager of the Chicago White Sox, has apologized for comments he made regarding Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in Time magazine. Guillen, from Venezuela, told the magazine that he loves Castro and respects him for staying in power so long. He held a closed-door meeting with the Marlins' beat writers Saturday to apologize for the statements.

Juan Almeida Bosque, a comrade of Fidel Castro since the start of his guerrilla struggle more than half a century ago, died of a heart attack Friday in Havana, government media announced. He was 82. One of three surviving rebel leaders who still bore the title "Commander of the Revolution," Almeida was a major figure in the battle to overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, and through the early years after the Jan. 1, 1959, triumph of the revolution. His death "is a reminder of what everyone knows, which is that the original generation is in its final laps," said Phil Peters, a Cuba expert at the Washington-area think tank the Lexington Institute.

No sooner did Cuban American relations hit their warmest notes in half a century than former President Fidel Castro stirred from retirement to say: Not so fast. The 82-year-old Castro tossed cold water on U.S. interpretations of his brother Raul's overture to President Obama last week. His successor as Cuban president had offered to discuss "everything, everything, everything" -- from human rights to political prisoners -- with his U.S. counterpart.

It became official Tuesday: Fidel Castro was formally removed from the leadership of the Cuban Communist Party for the first time since its formation nearly 50 years ago. But despite expectations that the new party leadership would begin to usher in a younger generation, senior stalwarts were appointed to the top posts. The moves came at the end of an extraordinary congress of the ruling party in which participants also endorsed a potentially far-reaching package of economic reforms.

After unveiling a movie Sunday about Ronald Reagan, Showtime will offer a biographical film of a different sort next month. "Fidel," a two-part dramatization of the life of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, will premiere Jan. 27-28, with Victor Huggo Martin, left, in the title role.

Cuba's parliament convened Friday for the first time since President Fidel Castro fell ill last summer, and his chair was left empty as lawmakers approved a spending plan for 2007. The session -- at least during the first two hours, when international journalists could attend -- reflected the businesslike style of Raul Castro, the president's brother and the acting leader.

WASHINGTON -- A cornerstone of the Bush administration's Cuba policy is that Cuba is a terrorist state with hostile intentions toward us. Otherwise, why not engage it as we do China, Vietnam and other nondemocratic states? The problem is that the administration can't come up with a shred of credible evidence to prove its point. Nor is it above using outright fabrications. For example, the State Department has made much of a speech given by Fidel Castro in Tehran last year in which he supposedly said "Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each another, can bring America to its knees."

Fidel Castro has changed his name to Mike and is living in Bradenton working for a capitalist bank. No, not that Fidel. With the stroke of a pen, Circuit Judge Stephen Dakan changed the legal name of Bradenton's Fidel Castro--named after the Cuban president--to Michael Anthony Castro. "If you had a name like Fidel Castro, wouldn't you want to change it?" Castro said.

Fidel Castro chatted live via speakerphone with graduating medical students in Nicaragua in the latest of a series of media events showing off the former Cuban leader looking more robust. The 83-year-old Castro, who hasn't been seen in public since falling ill three years ago, called during the graduation ceremony to congratulate the 44 doctors who had studied in Cuba. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega interrupted a graduation speech to put Castro's call on a speaker for the crowd to hear.

For most people--Cubans included--Fidel Castro is Cuba. What happens when he dies? This is the overwhelming question left in the viewer's mind by both hourlong films that make up "Castro's Cuba: Two Views" (tonight at 9 on Channels 28 and 15, and 8 p.m. on Channel 50). It emerges in Jorge Ulla's and master cinematographer Nestor Almendros' "Nobody Listened" from images of the bitter faces of Castro's former comrades, free after decades behind bars and smelling blood.