In the early and mid-1990s, the Cuban population became the only modern society to lose significant weight on a national basis.

They came for salsa music and mojitos and ended up wandering through a city turned still and silent by nine days of national mourning for Fidel Castro.

"Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me." Those were the words of Fidel Castro in October 1953.

Castro thrived on confrontation with US leaders, and he almost surely would have enjoyed facing off against America's next one.

From milkshakes to booby-trapped shellfish, you can't say the CIA weren't creative in their attempts to assassinate Castro.

Prince Harry was left in an awkward position when he was asked to take part in a moment's silence after the death of Fidel Castro.

Funeral preparations were under way in Cuba as the country readies itself for a gathering of world leaders not seen since the death of Nelson Mandela.

Fidel Castro, who has died aged 90, became a revolutionary hero when he overthrew the corrupt and brutal dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba in 1959.

Amid shortages and after 50 years of living in retail darkness due, the light has snapped on for many Cubans.

US-Cuban normalisation has brought hundreds of thousands of dollars of supplies to build an up-to-date conservation facility for Hemingway artifacts

Make a list. What is your holiday priority? Sun, rest and recharge within short-range of New Zealand?

A surge in tourism to Cuba after relations improved with the US could be about to see the country run out of beer.

Cuba is also a more-than-safe place, with a rich cultural tradition and a unique social environment in constant transformation.

United States President Barack Obama challenged Cuba's Communist Government with an impassioned call for democracy and economic reforms yesterday.

There seems little doubt that the beachhead US economic forces are re-establishing in Cuba will eventually lead to a new era of political freedom.

Cuban trip comes amid high anticipation and anxiety on the island.

Cuba's tourism industry is under unprecedented strain with record numbers of visitors arriving.

A British man held in Guantanamo Bay has given an account of his 14-year ordeal and made a number of shocking claims.

When Pope Francis celebrates the first open-air mass of his visit to Cuba today, the ghost of Che Guevara will be looming over him.

The number of tourists visiting Cuba has risen 17 per cent since the restoration of diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana after a 50-year hiatus.

The news that Cubans have seized the opportunity to travel more has Shandelle Battersby thinking about how much New Zealanders take jetsetting for granted.

On a pilgrimage to Cuba, Owen Scott and his ukulele bandmates meet new pals keen to strum and dance.

He portrayed himself as a man of the people who shunned the trappings of wealth.

I love Cuba. The place reeks of sun and mangoes, mystery and tobacco and sex. Cubans eat icecream like we drink long blacks and rum is as cheap as bottled water, Jack Tame writes.

In 2013 Pope Francis had a lot to celebrate. Not only was he named Time magazine person of the year, but was also awarded the title of Esquire's best-dressed man.

Here are four reasons why President Barack Obama's decision last week to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba was a good idea.

When Raul Castro came on the air to inform the nation that Cuba's quarrel with the US was ending, Cubans turned up their TVs, clapped their hands and some even cried.

A veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion, he fought alongside Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, and has a treasure trove of anecdotes...