Hurricane Rafael has pushed into the Gulf of Mexico after plowing across western Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane with winds so powerful it knocked out the entire country’s power grid.

Tropical Storm Rafael has strengthened to near hurricane intensity as it barrels toward the Cayman Islands and Cuba, where it was forecast to hit as a full hurricane.

Forecasters say Tropical Storm Rafael has formed in the Caribbean and will bring heavy rain to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands before strengthening to a hurricane and likely hitting Cuba.

Argentina’s President Javier Milei has dismissed his foreign minister hours after the country voted against the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba at the U.N. Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino was replaced by the current Argentina’s ambassador to the U.S., Gerardo Werthein, Milei’s spokesman Manuel Adorni announced on his X account.

Cuba’s large-scale blackouts that left 10 million people without power this month wouldn’t have happened if the government had built out more solar power to boost its failing electric grid as promised, some experts say.

Tropical Storm Oscar is heading toward the Bahamas after dumping heavy rain across eastern Cuba.

Oscar has weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall Sunday in eastern Cuba.

Top U.S. intelligence officials say Russia and China are seeking to meddle with specific U.S. House and Senate races this election year.

Forecasters have issued hurricane watches for parts of Cuba and Mexico as a cluster of storms located south of the Cayman Islands could strengthen in upcoming days as it moves north toward the U.S. The National Hurricane Center says the disturbance may become Hurricane Helene on Wednesday as it approaches the Gulf Coast.

In the land of the salsa, more and more youngsters are turning to K-pop.

Ri Il Gyu, North Korea’s former No. 2 diplomat in Cuba, has resettled in South Korea.

Three Russian warships have arrived in Cuban waters, Moscow’s second such maritime voyage in as many months in a reflection of deepening ties between Russia and Cuba.

A fleet of Russian warships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, has left Havana’s port after a five-day visit to Cuba following planned military drills in the Atlantic Ocean.

He was the poetic voice of the Cuban Revolution, an inspiration for millions of Latin Americans living under dictatorships throughout the 1960s and 1970s who dreamt of the ideal Cuba that he — and his guitar — helped evoke.

A U.S. Navy submarine has pulled into Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a show of force as a fleet of Russian warships gather for planned military exercises in the Caribbean.

A fleet of Russian warships have reached Cuban waters ahead of planned military exercises in the Caribbean.

Four Russian ships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, will arrive in Havana next week, Cuban officials said Thursday, citing “historically friendly relations” between both nations and as tensions escalate over Western military support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The U.S. is lifting some financial restrictions on Cuba in a move designed to boost private businesses on the island.

The 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro installed an atheist, Communist government that sought to replace the Catholic Church as the guiding force in the lives of Cubans.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has removed Cuba from the State Department's short list of countries deemed as not cooperating as much as they could in counterterrorism efforts.

Alejandro Fonseca stood in line for several hours outside a bank in Havana hoping to withdraw Cuban pesos from an ATM.

After the 1959 revolution, Cuba repressed gay people and many were sent to labor camps.

Small groups of protesters have taken to the streets in the eastern Cuba city of Santiago decryng power outages lasting up to eight hours across the Caribbean nation.

Cubans are often divided on many issues.

Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, a veteran Cuban dissident and leading proponent of human rights who was imprisoned twice but never left the island, will be awarded the 2024 International Women of Courage Award, a recognition granted by the U.S. Department of State.

A former career U.S. diplomat says he will plead guilty to charges of serving as a secret agent for communist Cuba going back decades.

Cuban singer and cabaret diva Juana Bacallao has died.

Colombia’s government and the nation’s largest remaining guerrilla group have reached a last-minute deal to extend a cease-fire that began last year by six months.

The Cuban government says it will have to either increase prices for fuel and electricity, or reduce rations for basic supplies.

Frita Batidos makes burgers and milkshakes

The Justice Department says a former American diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been charged with serving as a covert agent for Cuba’s intelligence services since at least 1981.

The family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino company says it has entered agreements to buy the majority stake of the Dallas Mavericks from team owner Mark Cuban.

Thousands of people led by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel have marched along Havana’s iconic boardwalk in solidarity with the Palestinian people and demanding an end to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Four out of five people in Mexico who got influenza shots so far this year turned down the government's recommendation they get Russian or Cuban COVID-19 boosters at the same time.

Dozens of tiny grocery stores have sprung up around Cuba in recent months.

Former President Donald Trump has appealed to South Florida’s Cuban community during a rally aimed at upstaging his 2024 Republican presidential rivals while they engaged in their third debate without him a half-hour’s drive away.

Cuba, once a sports superpower, now celebrates every gold medal at the Pan American Games.

Cuba's ambassador to the United States says an incident in which at least one incendiary device was thrown into the Cuban embassy compound was a “terrorist attack.”.

At least one Molotov cocktail has been thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, but there was no significant damage and no one was injured.

Soon after Felix Llerena arrived in Miami in 2017, the Cuban activist was drawn to then-President Donald Trump by the Republican's aggressive approach toward Cuba’s communist government.

A long way from home and playing in its first Little League World Series game ever, Cuba allowed just one hit Wednesday, but got no-hit in a 1-0 loss to Japan in an opening round game.

Little League has been hosting its World Series in Williamsport since 1947, yet it will be welcoming a new guest when the tournament starts Wednesday — Cuba.

China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019, as part of a global effort by Beijing to upgrade its intelligence capabilities.

Cuba’s National Assembly has ratified President Miguel Díaz-Canel for a new five-year term, in a decision to maintain continuity as the island faces a deep economic crisis.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says re-signing Kyrie Irving is the team's top offseason priority.

Cuba advanced to the World Baseball Classic semifinals for the first time since 2006 with a 4-3 win over Australia as Alfredo Despaigne hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly and Yoelkis Guibert followed with a two-run single in three-run fifth inning.

Health authorities in Mexico say they will use more traditional medicine and more Cuban doctors in the country's woefully underequipped public hospital system.

Overwhelmed by thousands of Cubans crowding its southern border after making the dangerous trip through Central America and an increase in makeshift boats crossing the Florida Straits, the United States in early January approved a policy change that makes migrants request a permit online before arriving with the sponsorship of a relative or friend in the U.S. Although the parole program also applies to Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans, Cubans have especially taken advantage of it,...

Cubans signed with Major League Baseball organizations and other foreign clubs will for the first time join domestic stars on the national team that will play in the World Baseball Classic.

Migrants entering the U.S. illegally are devastated to learn they may be sent back to Mexico under expanded limits on the pursuit of asylum.

More than 500 Cuban immigrants have come ashore in the Florida Keys since the weekend, the latest in a large and increasing number who are fleeing the communist island.

The United States Embassy in Cuba is reopening visa and consular services Wednesday.

Starting New Year’s Day, you can still wear bikinis on the beaches of Miami Beach, but forget about showing any butts — cigarette butts, that is.

The United States will permit Major League Baseball players from Cuba to represent their home country in the World Baseball Classic next year.

Scarcity and economic turmoil are nothing new to Cuba, but soaring inflation and deepening shortages have made holiday shopping even more difficult for Cubans this year.

Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, have offered Cuban artists a lifeline during the pandemic, which wreaked havoc on the island country's tourism industry and, subsequently, its art sales.

An incident involving the Cuban coast guard in plain sight of the U.S. embassy in Havana had people scratching their heads on Monday.

Cuban officials have announced that women boxers will be able to compete officially after decades of restrictions.

Grammy-winning Cuban balladeer Pablo Milanés has died in Spain at age 79.

Cuba says it will receive deportation flights from the United States that had been stalled in the pandemic — and said it was open to continuing dialogue with Washington.

U.S. authorities stopped migrants more than 230,000 times on the Mexican border in October, the third-highest month of Joe Biden’s presidency.

U.S. and Cuban officials plan to meet in Havana on Tuesday to discuss migration policy.

Like the rest of the Caribbean, Cuba is suffering from longer droughts, warmer waters, more intense storms, and higher sea levels because of climate change.

Gay couples have begun to get married in Cuba under the country’s new Family Code.

Soccer coaches across Cuba are training hundreds of players as part of a new program to elevate the sport’s profile and status in a country that last qualified for the World Cup in 1938.

Hurricane Ian is on track to hit Florida just shy of a Category 5 storm on Wednesday.

Cuban officials say they've begun to restore some power after Hurricane Ian knocked out electricity to the entire island.

Hurricane Ian has knocked out power across all of Cuba and devastated some of the country’s most important tobacco farms when it slammed into the island’s western tip as a major hurricane.

Hurricane Ian is on track to hit Florida as a major hurricane this week.

A Colombian guerrilla group says it has freed six captive members of the security forces in a goodwill gesture ahead of planned peace talks with the government of new President Gustavo Petro.

A second firefighter has died in Cuba, where crews have controlled a massive blaze that began last week at a key oil storage facility amid a deepening energy crisis.

Cuba authorities say a deadly fire that has consumed at least half of a large oil storage facility in western Cuba and threatens to bring more power failures to the island's already fragile electric system has been largely controlled after nearly five days.

Flames have engulfed a fourth tank at an oil storage facility in western Cuba as the raging fire consumes critical fuel supplies on an island facing a growing energy crisis.

A deadly fire that began at a large oil storage facility in western Cuba has spread, threatening to plunge the island into a deeper energy crisis as it forced officials to shut down a key thermoelectric plant.

Pope Francis is offering support to firefighters and search crews in Cuba following explosions at a big oil tank farm in the western province of Matanzas.

Cuban firefighters have been joined by special teams sent by Mexico and Venezuela as they battle for a second day to control a fire blazing at a big oil tank farm.

The young people come and go on their electric motorcycles at this highway outside Cuba’s capital where they perform stunts and talk about their two-wheelers, which would be largely silent if it weren’t for the music blasting from speakers.

A year ago, thousands of people filled Cuba’s streets and public squares in the country’s largest outpouring of protest in decades.

Two members of a loose-knit group of dissident artists have been sentenced to prison in Cuba.

The first storm of the new hurricane season hit Cuba in mid-June and collapsed or damaged dozens of homes in the capital — tearing off pieces of roof, balconies and facades.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has confirmed that he will not attend the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles this week, dealing a blow to the event hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden.

The U.S. Transportation Department is making it easier for Americans to travel to Cuba, lifting flight restrictions that were established during the Trump administration.

Some of the more than 840 Haitians who tried to reach the United States in a boat but ended up in Cuba say Thursday that they fled violence in their country and were charged thousands of dollars by smugglers who ushered them onto a dilapidated boat and later abandoned them at sea.

The Biden administration's move to ease some sanctions on Cuba are being met with some confusion and caution by people on the island.

The Summit of the Americas is a little more than two weeks away in Los Angeles, and there's still no clear answer on which countries are going.

The United States might invite a Cuban representative to the Summit of the Americas next month, according to a U.S. official.

The Biden administration says it will expand flights to Cuba and lift Trump-era restrictions on remittances that immigrants can send to people on the island.

More bodies have been pulled from the ruins of a luxury hotel in Cuba’s capital, bringing the official death toll from a powerful explosion at the iconic building to 40.

The death toll of a powerful explosion at a luxury hotel in Cuba’s capital has increased to 31 as search crews with dogs hunt through the rubble of the iconic, 19th century building looking for people still missing.

Relatives of the missing in Cuba’s capital are desperately searching for victims of an explosion at one of Havana's most luxurious hotels that killed at least 27 people.

Ricardo Alarcón, who was for years the head of Cuba’s parliament and one of the country’s most prominent diplomats, has died in Havana.

The United States and Cuba have held their highest-level diplomatic talks in four years after a severe disruption in ties during the Trump administration.

Every year in Cuba, millions of crabs emerge from the forest at the beginning of the spring rains and head for the waters of the Bay of Pigs, crossing streets and highways on a perilous journey to mate and reproduce there.

Former Dallas Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson is suing the Mavericks, alleging that team owner Mark Cuban fired him in retaliation for reporting sexual misconduct by a team executive.

Unaccompanied child migrants trying to enter the United States will no longer be denied a chance to seek asylum under new guidance announced by U.S. health authorities.

Ten Cuban migrants in a sinking vessel were rescued off the Florida coast.

Cuban courts have wrapped up the hearing phase of six mass trials for people accused of involvement in the largest and most unruly protests on the island in decades.

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The Biden administration has slapped a travel ban on eight Cuban officials it says have been complicit in the repression of opposition protesters and other dissidents.

Fernando González, the head of Caribbean newsgathering for The Associated Press, has died in Havana.