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April 20, 2011 |
Cuba looks back - and forward
Cuba this week concluded two events, one looking back, and one - ostensibly - looking forward. The 50-year anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion was observed with parades and speeches. Victory in the three-day war against a covert US operation to overthrow Fidel Castro, the then-new leader of revolutionary Cuba, is celebrated every year. But 50 years on, a stagnant economy and calls for political reform from a younger generation were an undercurrent during the first party congress in 14 years. What real change will come, and when, remains to be seen. Collected here are some archival images, scenes from the congress and political process, and daily life on the island. -- Lane Turner (31 photos total)

In this April 1961 file photo, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro jumps from a tank as he arrives at Giron, Cuba, near the Bay Of Pigs. On April 17-19, 1961, the beach was the stage for one of the most memorable chapters in the struggle between Washington and Havana: the invasion of Cuba by a CIA-trained band of armed exiles. (Bohemia Magazine/AP) #

A person walks along a street in Havana October 26, 2010, the day the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to urge the United States to lift a 48-year-old economic embargo against Cuba, a now-ritual call. The assembly passed a nonbinding resolution - with 187 votes in favor, two against and three abstentions - for the 19th consecutive year, reflecting the world's disapproval of Washington's long-standing effort to isolate Havana. (Desmond Boylan/Reuters) #

Workers roll cigars at the Partagas factory beneath a portrait of revolutionary leader Che Guevara in Havana February 24. Cuban cigar sales rose two percent in 2010 as smokers in China and the Middle East helped counter the effects of anti-smoking laws sweeping the globe. Cuban cigars generated $368 million in sales. (Desmond Boylan/Reuters) #

Cuba's President Raul Castro (left) delivers a speech during the 6th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party in Havana April 16. Castro proposed term limits for Cuban politicians, a remarkable gesture on an island ruled for 52 years by him and his brother, Fidel, but one unlikely to have a major effect on his own future. (Javier Galeano/AP) #

Members of the Ladies in White, a Cuban dissident organization, watch videos of opposition meetings, on March 18 in Havana. More than twenty women activists met to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the "Primavera Negra" (Black Spring), when 75 Cuban dissidents were jailed. (Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images) #
More links and information
Cuba Lays Foundation for a New Leader - NYTimes.com, 4/19
Cuba's young radicals aim to reinvent the island's politics - Guardian.co.uk, 4/19
Bay of Pigs Invasion - Wikipedia entry