Twenty immigrants who were trying to pretend they had dry feet were caught red-handed. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rounded up the suspects yesterday for posing as Cuban immigrants in order to take advantage of the U.S. amnesty policy. The arrests are part of a growing trend in which immigrants buy forged Cuban documents to claim amnesty in America.

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Looks like there's not going to be an Elian Saga Part Two, despite the best efforts of a fugitive couple who kidnapped their kids in Florida and fled to Cuba hoping to hide out. Authorities in Havana have just announced that the couple, Joshua and Sharyn Hakken, will be sent back to the United States to face charges.

Police say Joshua Hakken stole his sons, aged four and two, from his mother-in-law's house in Tampa last week, jumped into a boat with his wife and sailed for the communist island.

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via NBC Nightly News Tumblr

Beyoncé and Jay-Z seem to be having a lot of fun in Cuba this week. Strolling through the streets of Havana with big smiles, apparently without a worry in their heads that their mere presence would be seized upon by the communist Cuban propaganda machine.

Right on cue, the top Cuban diplomat in Washington is somewhat comically complaining that the American media is spending too much time covering the world tour of Cuban dissident Yoani Sanchez and not enough time talking about Beyoncé.

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via NBC Nightly News Tumblr

Beyonce and Jay-Z are dangerously in love, and are apparently celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary possibly illegally. The two were spotted in Havana, Cuba, yesterday, which, you know, might be against U.S. law.

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Michael E. Miller

Yoani Sanchez speaks at the Freedom Tower this afternoon

After crisscrossing the world for the past six weeks -- not to mention fighting Castro's government censors for more than six years -- Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez finally delivered the speech she said she had been waiting for all her life.

Speaking in front of hundreds of exilios and almost as many journalists at the Freedom Tower, Sanchez said her first trip to Miami wasn't a sign of the Cuban government's flexibility, but its weakness. And she urged Cubans on either side of the Florida Straits to unite to promote peaceful change on the island.

"There is no 'you' and 'us,'" the philologist-turned-freedom-fighter said. "There is only 'us.'"

See also:
- Yoani Sanchez, Cuba's Best-Known Blogger, Arrested at Activist's Trial
- Top Ten Cuban Bloggers You Don't Know

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Time to queue up the Calle Ocho parades, roll out the gigantic Cuban flags for the mass rally at Marlins Park, and get some security guards in front of Versailles ASAP before the revelers get all hopped up on coladas: The Castro regime officially has an end date. ¡Felicidades!

OK, as with all things Castro, there's a Fidel-sized catch in the good news. Raúl Castro will still run the country for another five years. Miami's old-timers will have to hang on until 2018 to see a Castro-free Cuban regime.

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Could the day that Cuba is no longer run by a man named Castro be in sight? Raul Castro is set to be sworn in for another five year term, but during a joint appearance with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, he raised the possibility of retirement.

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Artwork by Turk similar to that displayed on The W

The almost seven-foot artwork hanging on the walls at the W South Beach wasn't quite of Che Guevara, but it looked enough like the infamous infamous Marxist rebel to piss off local Cubans.

"Dude, it's Che Guevara," an anonymous Cuban who does business with the hotel told the Miami Herald. "This is Miami. You don't do stuff like this."

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There are two great myths about Cuba: that Fidel Castro is already dead, and that they actually have democracy. Well, yesterday Castro was spotted out in public for the first time in three years to cast a ballot in yesterday's general election. Because, you know, every vote is really important in Cuba. 
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When Hugo Chavez made his first mysterious trip to Cuba for cancer surgery last year, many predicted the Venezuelan president's health would give out before last October's elections. The dictator seemed to have made a surprising recovery and won reelection, but it seems his health problems are far from over. Chavez is once again in Cuba for more cancer surgery.

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