People from the U.S., Canada and Europe are calling on President Obama to listen to the international community and release the Cuban 5 immediately, during the 5 days for the Cuban 5 in Washington DC.  The actions initiated by the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 have been endorsed by 272 U.S. and International organizations, and more than 2000 individuals.

During the first and second day, 25 international and U.S. supporters visited 12 of the 100 Senators and 14 members of congress' offices to discuss the issue of the Cuban 5.  The lobbying effort over the past two days marks the first time that the case of the Cuban 5 has been taken to Capitol Hill. The high number of responses to the request for appointments was seen by the supporters as a positive sign.

Louis Wolf, from Washington DC said "Lobbying Congress about the Cuban Five or any Cuba-related issue is definitely a challenge. But when a senior foreign policy aide to a Senator told us yesterday 'U.S. policy toward Cuba is stuck in the Middle Ages', we knew our work is not done in a total vacuum."

Conrad Black's rambling sermon on the papal visit to Cuba is embarrassing in its ignorance.  The selective indignation, arrogant short-sightedness, and vituperative rhetoric are perhaps to be expected.  Worse, however, are the factual errors.

Some of Lord Black of Crossharbour's "facts" need to be corrected: Raul Castro does not consider himself a Catholic (although he did attend Catholic school in his youth); a new seminary is not "opening in Havana" (this happened in 2010); nor is the Church "about to launch Cuba's first MBA programme" (It did so last year).

The Canadian Network on Cuba is outraged by the statement from the office of Diane Ablonczy, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs), which declares that Canada - in lock step with the United States - opposes Cuba's participation in the upcoming Summit of the Americas to be held April 14-15, 2012 in Cartagena, Colombia. This arrogant statement flies in the face of the overwhelming consensus of the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean. Their expressed desire is that no Summit of the Americas can truly be legitimate if Cuba is excluded.