Guantan prison closure !! ~ Ramon Castro is dead.

Do you know Castro ?

President Barack Obama announced on Twitter that he's going to Cuba next month, which will be the first time a sitting president has visited the country since 1928. The US recently restored diplomatic relations with the communist country after a 54-year break.

Cuba's tourism boom continues at a record pace but is expected to cool off during 2016 with the government forecasting nearly 6 percent growth this year after a 17 percent increase in 2015. Amid the international buzz surrounding the country's detente with the United States, Cuba received a record 3.5 million visitors in 2015, then set another record for any single month in January 2016, officials said.  The influx has pushed capacity to the limit and forced many tourists to scramble for hotel rooms, raising questions about how Cuba will absorb additional visitors when scheduled U.S. commercial airline service starts this year.

That has created a flutter ~ Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said that President Obama is pushing to shutter the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility as final gift to the Castros before leaving office. "I believe that President Obama intends to try to give the Guantanamo naval facility to Raul and Fidel Castro as a parting gift," Cruz told a couple hundred voter in Nevada, according to The Washington Post.  "Four decades ago, Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal. We built it, we paid for it, and then a feckless left-wing president gave it away to undermine this country. Well, Mr. President, you don't have the authority to give away vital military assets!" Cruz added, according to the newspaper.

 Republican presidential rival Marco Rubio, also campaigning in Nevada on the day of the GOP caucuses, mentioned the possibility of the military prison ending up in the hands of the Cuban government. "This makes no sense to me," Rubio told supporters at a rally in Las Vegas. "We are not giving back an important naval base to an anti-American communist dictatorship." The White House has repeatedly indicated such a move is off the table, but the Republican senators — both of Cuban descent — are using the opportunity to criticize the president ahead of his visit to Cuba in March.

Cuba, is a sovereign state comprising the islands of Cuba, Isla de la Juventud and several archipelagos in the Caribbean Sea. The capital and largest city Havana.  Prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, which led to nominal independence as a de facto U.S. protectorate in 1902. Dictator  Fulgencio Batista was ousted in 1959 , which afterwards established a government under the leadership of Fidel Castro. Since 1965, the country has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba.

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (also called GTMO because of the airfield designation code or gitmo because of the common pronunciation of this code by the U.S. military  is located on 45 square miles (120 km2) of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which the United States leased for use as a coaling and naval station in 1903.  The  Cuban government has consistently protested against the U.S. presence on Cuban soil . Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, for unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places during the War on Terror.

Ramon Castro, the older brother of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and current President Raul Castro, had died at age 91, Cuban state television reported on Tuesday.  Ramon Castro, brother to Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul Castro, has died, a government-run newspaper reported Tuesday. He was 91. The oldest of the three Castro brothers, Ramon was born in 1924 according to a death notice printed in Granma Internacional, a government-owned newspaper. His two brothers are more well known.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (Fidel Castro) the revolutionary,  governed the Republic of Cuba as its Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then its President from 1976 to 2008. Politically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011.

Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (Raul Castro) has been President of the Council of State of Cuba.  Raúl Castro was a rebel commander during the 1950s; after his brother Fidel Castro took power, Raúl Castro was one of the most important figures in the party, serving as Minister of the Armed Forces from 1959 to 2008, the longest to serve in such a position.  Raúl Castro was officially elected as President by the National Assembly in Feb 2008, after Fidel Castro, who was still ailing, announced his intention not to stand for President again on 19 February 2008. He was re-elected President on 24 February 2013, and shortly thereafter announced that his second term would be his final term and that he would not seek re-election in 2018.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

24^th Feb 2016