Cuba's prison record better than the US

Cuba has some 200 fewer prisoners per 100,000 of its population than the United States (rthough more than double the UK's) according to the BBC in a report on its website today HERE.

Mariela makes the news

Meanwhile in this report on ABC news Raúl Casto's daughter Mariela, (pictured), is being 'scorned' by politicians but embraced by the Gay and Lesbian community in the US. I guess you know who your friends are....

Here in San Francisco where I am attending the Latin American Studies Association Congress Mariela's appearance here made the frontpage of the daily San Francisco Examiner. Under the headline "Seeing Red: Castro kin's vist stirs politics", reporter Dan Schreiber describes the fall out.