Cuban dissidents, along with their relatives and supporters, said on Friday that the island's government had this week freed at least 38 people on a US list of imprisoned opposition members.

US officials said after weeks of virtual silence that those released were on the list of 53.

Ben Rhodes, the deputy US national security adviser who negotiated the releases as part of a broader detente with Cuba, said on Twitter: "The United States welcomes the substantial and ongoing releases of prisoners in Cuba - so good to see people reunited with their families."

One of the dissidents released was Miguel Alberto Ulloa, who spoke to The Associated Press on Friday.

"For many years President (Raul) Castro has kept it (Cuba) practically out of touch from the rest of the world," he said.

"One of the things (US President Barack) Obama said is that something could occur (referring to improved diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US) but only as long as there is democracy and freedom of expression, something that still doesn't exist in Cuba," he added.

A Miami-based Cuba-American group has said three other dissidents on the list were freed last month, for a total of 41 to be let go.

Wilberto Parada, another of the dissidents released this week, said: "I do what I do for my own moral beliefs, I am not an agent of the United States. I am a free man, I have my own thoughts, I am in Cuba and I am a Cuban."

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - 9 January, 2015

1. Hand-painted message on water tank at the home of released Cuban dissident Miguel Alberto Ulloa reading (Spanish) "Change"

2. Hand-painted message on water tank reading (English) "USA-Cuba"

3. Ulloa and his relatives (Ulloa is wearing a red T-shirt and carrying his son) walking next to water tank

4. Close of Ulloa's release papers; Ulloa is pointing to text reading (Spanish) "Cause of release: Probation"

5. Ulloa sitting on the sofa with his wife Tailadys Perez their son

6. Ulloa's relatives watching as he talks to reporters

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Miguel Alberto Ulloa, released political prisoner:

"For many years President (Raul) Castro has kept it (Cuba) practically out of touch from the rest of the world. One of the things (US President Barack) Obama said is that something could occur (referring to improved diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US) but only as long as there is democracy and freedom of expression, something that still doesn't exist in Cuba."

8. Ulloa's relatives listening to interview

9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maribel Ginal, mother of released political prisoner Miguel Alberto Ulloa:

"I think they (government authorities) should respect the agreements (between Cuba and the US), and that it could benefit those who think like this (referring to dissidents), and for more freedom of expression."

10. People and traffic on Havana street

11. Various of released political prisoner Wilberto Parada hugging wife and son inside their home

12. Handwritten message on wall inside living room reading (Spanish) "Jehovah is my shepherd. I shall lack nothing."

13. Parada seen reflected in mirror, handwritten message on wall reading (Spanish) "Jehovah is with me like a mighty giant"

14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Wilberto Parada, released political prisoner:

"I do what I do for my own moral beliefs, I am not an agent of the United States. I am a free man, I have my own thoughts, I am in Cuba and I am a Cuban."

15. Cutaway of Parada and family

16. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yudisnel Rodriguez, Wilberto Parada's wife:

"This was terrible, what we have gone through. All the suffering and injustice hurts a lot. The injustice hurts quite a lot."

17. Parada standing with wife and son on street

18. Parada greeting neighbours

19. Cuban flag draped from balcony

20. Wide of Cuban street

Two US senators expressed optimism on Tuesday that Cuba will free imprisoned American government contractor Alan Gross.

Senators Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, and Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, said they met with Gross for about two hours during a trip that included meetings with Cuban officials.

Gross was detained in December 2009 while working to set up unauthorised Internet networks for the island's Jewish community while he was on a contract with the US Agency for International Development, a government entity.

Havana considers such programmes to be an affront to its sovereignty and sentenced him to 15 years for crimes against the state.

Flake also cited as cause for optimism a report by The Associated Press on Monday that USAID is preparing internal rules that would effectively end risky undercover work in hostile countries.

The new policy follows an investigation by The AP this year into work by the development agency, which set up a Twitter-like social network in Cuba and secretly sought to recruit a new generation of dissidents on the island while hiding ties to the US government.

USAID has denied the Cuba programmes constituted covert action.

Cuba has said repeatedly it wants to negotiate with the US over the fate of Gross as well as three Cuban agents who are imprisoned in the US on charges including espionage.

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 11 November 2014

1. US Senators Republican Jeff Flake (left, striped tie) and Democrat Tom Udall (right, pink tie) walking into news briefing

2. Cameraman filming

3. Flake and Udall taking seats for news conference

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Jeff Flake, Republican from Arizona:

"I do feel we're closer there. One because of what Alan Gross has said himself, this is going to end one way or another. We've gone on five years, I think any benefit that the Cuban government may have seen, has to have evaporated by now in that regard. But there's also some other things that have been changing over the past little while, the programme that brought Alan Gross here, and similar programs that have been run by USAID, there's been a realisation there, and a statement that there won't be covert programmes run out of AID any more, and that's a good thing."

5. Cameraman filming

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Tom Udall, Democrat from New Mexico:

"The important thing for you to know about our visit with him is that he really wants to go home."

7. Various of Flake and Udall after briefing

One of the convicted spies known as the "Cuban Five" will be released from a US prison on next Thursday.

U.S. officials say Fernando Gonzalez will be immediately handed to immigration authorities upon his release for the start of deportation proceedings

Rene Gonzalez, no relation, was the first of the Cuban Five to go free in 2011. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, he said he hopes his comrade will soon join him in Cuba in his new role as the public face of Cuba's campaign to demand the release of the other three agents.

"I don't know how he (Fernando Gonzalez) will feel when he comes. Probably he'll need some rest, but I hope to see him at my side in this battle," Rene Gonzalez said.

"I think he will be a good reinforcement," Rene Gonzalez added.

The "Cuban Five" is the nickname for the intelligence agents in the employ of Fidel Castro who were arrested in the United States in 1998 and given terms ranging from 15 years to consecutive life sentences on charges including conspiracy and failure to register as foreign agents.

A federal appeals court upheld their convictions but voided three of their sentences, including Fernando Gonzalez's, after finding they had gathered no "top secret" information.

When he was released in 2011, Rene Gonzalez was ordered to remain in the United States for more than a year.

In 2013, Rene Gonzalez finally returned to his country of allegiance, if not birth, after a US judge allowed him to renounce his US citizenship and cut short three years' supervised release.

Gonzalez is no longer just an anonymous husband and father of two.

Today his and the other agents' faces grace billboards across Cuba, where they are lionised as heroes for their clandestine monitoring of militant anti-Castro exiles.

In addition to the Cuban agents still behind bars, a major sticking point in U.S-Cuba relations is Cuba's imprisonment of a U.S. government subcontractor.

Alan Gross is serving a 15-year sentence for crimes against the state after he was caught bringing sensitive communications equipment into the country.

Rene Gonzalez said that US President Barack Obama needs to know that resolving these two issues is key to mending relations between the two countries.

"The message for him (Obama) is for him to change his relationship with Cuba. Everyone knows that within that relationship change are the two cases: the case of (Alan) Gross and the (Cuban) Five. It's no secret," Rene Gonzalez said.

Rene Gonzalez was born in 1956 in Chicago to Cuban immigrants who were sympathetic to Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution and returned to the island in the 1960s.

In the decades that followed, Soviet aid allowed Cuba to redistribute wealth across society and subsidised things like food, services, education and health care.

Today, the statist and orthodox Marxist Cuba that Rene Gonzalez left has undergone significant change, even if the Communist Party is the only one allowed and there's still little tolerance for open dissent.

87-year-old Fidel Castro is retired and largely out of the public eye.

Younger brother Raul Castro has embarked on a plan to remake the country's model by permitting some private economic activity, though key sectors remain firmly in the hands of the state.

"We have had to make concessions to the market that I don't like, above all in conditions that create certain inequalities among people that make the most vulnerable live in a precarious state we didn't know before," Rene Gonzalez said.

Rene Gonzalez said he has some good memories of his time in the United States, though he takes a dim view what he considers a political system where money is all that matters and of those in Florida's Cuban exile community who call him a traitor and a spy.

"I like the people, the people in Miami, with the exception of that segment that has poisoned the politics of the city," Gonzalez said.

"The regular people are kind. In Miami I enjoyed the Latin American cultural diversity, and I miss that too," he added.

AP TELEVISION

1. Mid of a billboard showing pictures of the so-called 'Cuban Five' reading (Spanish) "End Injustice!" and passer-by wearing T-shirt with picture of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara

2. Wide of 23rd Street in Havana with 'Cuban Five' billboard in the background reading (Spanish) "End Injustice - Freedom Now"

3. Close of billboard with the image of Fernando Gonzalez, convicted Cuba spy serving time in a US prison

4. Mid of Rene Gonzalez, one of the so-called 'Cuban Five', in his office using computer

5. Reverse of same

6. Various of Gonzalez's Twitter page

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Cuba Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"I don't know how he (referring to Fernando Gonzalez) will feel when he comes. Probably he'll need some rest, but I hope to see him at my side in this battle. I think he will be a good reinforcement. He is a brilliant person and very committed to the Revolution and the process we are constructing."

8. Zoom in to Fernando Gonzalez face on a street billboard

9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"The message for him (US President Barack Obama) is for him to change his relationship with Cuba. No matter how. Everyone knows that within that relationship change are the two cases: the case of (Alan) Gross and the (Cuban) Five. It's no secret."

10. Mid people outside farmers' market with 'Cuban Five' sign

11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"We have had to make concessions to the market (referring to Cuban economic reforms) that I don't like, above all in conditions that create certain inequalities among people that make the most vulnerable live in a precarious state that we didn't know before."

12. Wide of woman walking in front of 'Cuban Five' sign

13. Close up of sign reading (Spanish) "They will return!" showing picture of the 'Cuban Five'

14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"I am pleased that we have made a diagnosis of the Cuban reality and are trying to adapt it to new circumstances without losing our compass and what we want."

15. Zoom out 'Cuban Five' billboard with people and cars passing

16. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"I like the people, the people in Miami, with the exception of that segment that has poisoned the politics of the city. The regular people are kind. In Miami it wasn't any different. In Miami I enjoyed the Latin American cultural diversity, I liked that, and I miss that too."

17. Wide of traffic passing in front of 'Cuban Five' billboard

In the two-and-a-half months since Cuba allowed its citizens internet access via cellphones, the fast-charging changes are subtle but palpable as Cubans drag what was once of the world's least-connected countries into the digital age.

In the first 40 days since Dec. 6, when people could start buying internet access packages for 3G service, 1.8 million Cubans - out of a population of 11 million - purchased the services, and a government report last week said that about 6.4 million residents are users of internet and social networks.

A group of young people launched Sube, a ride-sharing app for clients to hail aging American sedans on the streets of Havana.

"Sometimes we would be in the street waiting and we would think, where are all the taxis? Now you can call them using the application", said Claudia Cuevas, 26, a university professor and fellow member of the Sube team.

Previously, nearly all Cubans could use their mobile phones only to get their state-run email accounts unless they connected to the internet at a limited number of government-sponsored Wi-Fi spots.

Government officials and foreign businesspeople could use their mobiles to access the 3G network in recent years, though not always reliably.

The history of the internet in Cuba has been rife with tensions and suspicions since it began in the 1990s.

Cuba accused Washington of blocking its access to the fiber optical cables near the island, forcing it to use an expensive and slow satellite service.

It was only in 2011 that it got access to a submarine cable with the help of Venezuela.

And it wasn't until 2015 that the general population gained access through the opening of Wi-Fi points in hundreds of parks.

Critics of Cuba's communist government said it resisted giving its citizens free access to the internet because it feared a free inflow of information, while its supporters noted that it was fighting efforts by Washington to undermine its government and revolution.

Julio Aguirre Lusson, 25, a DJ who has a YouTube channel called TecnoLike, says he has noticed the impact.

Aguirre said, however, that there are still many limitations from both outside and inside Cuba.

For example, there are obstacles facing local developers who want to enter their products in places like Google Play Store.

And in Cuba, developers face a paralysis in the delivery of operating licences so they can work within a legal framework.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel opened a Twitter account prior to December and recently ordered all his ministers and senior leaders to do the same.

Diaz-Canel, who is an engineer by profession, has repeated the importance of the internet in general and said authorities are working on websites and platforms to provide government services, such as requesting a birth certificate, knowing the status of a file or computerising government forms that are still filled out by hand.

Havana - 18 February 2019

1. Close of smartphone ride-sharing app 'Sube', which works similarly to Uber, being used

2. Claudia Cuevas, part of team that created Sube, using cellphone to order a taxi

3. Close of Cuevas on her phone

4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Claudia Cuevas, Sube app designer:

"Sometimes we would be in the street waiting and we would think, where are all the taxis? Now you can call them using the application, not calling them directly but you can publicise your trip and any taxi available can respond to your request."

5. Various of Cuevas getting into taxi, taxi journey

Havana - 20 February 2019

6. Various of Julio Aguirre Lusson, a DJ and YouTuber, editing a video

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Julio Aguirre Lusson, DJ and YouTuber :

"The challenges are trying to achieve the best communication (reach) possible, with businesses outside (of Cuba) as well local, in order to create a purely Cuban project, that is a project created here for the world and for Cuba."

Havana - 19 February 2019

8. Various of Cubans using their cellphones

9. Screenshot showing Twitter account of Miguel Diaz Canel, President of Cuba, with the slogan (Spanish): "60 years of fighting, resistance and creativity"

10. People walking in busy street

SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION

1. Yoani Sanchez, dissident Cuban blogger and her husband Reinaldo Escobar, seated inside Jose Marti International Airport

2. Wide of Sanchez sitting in airport with her husband

3. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Yoani Sanchez, dissident blogger:

"I hope this trip is not my last trip. It is the most anxious one and the one I've been waiting for the longest, but I hope it's not my last."

4. Close up of Sanchez showing her passport to cameras

5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Yoani Sanchez, dissident blogger:

"What is clear about this new stage is that I plan to remain in Cuba and will work from here. I will work as a journalist and with every passing day I will get up in the morning behaving as a freer person and the government of my country will have to accept that."

6. Close up Sanchez showing passport

7. Pan of Sanchez greeting someone and then walking over to check-in desks

8. Sanchez checking in

9. Pan of Sanchez walking towards immigration desks

10. Tilt up of Sanchez going through immigration

11. Close up immigration sign

12. Sanchez waves and passes through immigration

13. Wide exterior Jose Marti International Airport

STORYLINE

Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez left Havana on Sunday, setting out on a 3-month dozen-nation world tour after a new law eased travel restrictions on islanders last month.

Cuban authorities issued Sanchez a new passport in accordance with a recently passed law which simplifies entry and exit procedures by removing bureaucratic obstacles for those who wish to travel off the island.

Sanchez has gained international fame - and raised the ire of island authorities - with her descriptions of daily life in Cuba on her blog Generation Y, and she also writes for Spanish newspaper El Pais.

At Jose Marti International Airport, Sanchez said that she was anxious about the trip and she hoped it wouldn't be her last.

Sanchez says Cuba has denied her permission to travel about 20 times in recent years.

But the exit permit requirement ended with the government's travel reform in January, and Cubans now only need a passport to leave the country.

"I will work as a journalist and with every passing day I will get up in the morning behaving as a freer person and the government of my country will have to accept that," she said before checking in for her flight to Brazil, the first stop on her trip.

The tour includes several stops in the United States, with appearances at universities in New York and other academic programs, visits to Google and Twitter offices and time with family in Florida.

She'll also travel to the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, with potential trips to Argentina and Chile in the works.

The Cuban government considers the island's small community of dissidents to be dangerous counter-revolutionaries bent on undermining its sovereignty.

Time magazine listed Sanchez as one of the world's most influential people back in 2008 for her internet blog Generation Y.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide interior of airport with media and blogger Yoani Sanchez's friends and family waiting

2. Mid of family and friends waiting

3. Zoom out of Sanchez coming out of airport customs

4. Mid of Sanchez hugging her son Teo Escobar, husband Reinaldo Escobar, and her mother

5. Close of friends hugging and kissing Sanchez while others clap

6. Mid of Sanchez walking out of airport

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yoani Sanchez, Cuban Dissident Blogger:

"Thank you very much for coming. It has been a marvellous trip, really. I am very tired because not only has it been more than 100 days, but also a long and marvellous trip. It is a trip that will change my life in many ways because it has been a humane trip, a journalistic trip, civic, and technological. I am now here with many projects."

8. Mid of Sanchez and family leaving airport

9. Zoom in exterior of Havana International airport

STORYLINE

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez returned on Thursday to her island homeland that officially considers her a traitor, concluding a more than three-month globe-trotting tour that cemented her status as the most internationally recognisable face of Cuba's small dissident community.

Sanchez emerged from the airport in the evening, hugged her husband and son and greeted about a dozen relatives and friends.

"It has been a marvellous trip," she told reporters gathered at the terminal.

"A trip that is going to change my life in many ways ... and I have returned with lots of projects," Sanchez added.

Pleading exhaustion after a trans-oceanic flight capping a journey that lasted more than 100 days, she asked for time alone with family and said she would speak more of her future plans after resting.

Sanchez has been on the road since 17 February when she took advantage of a new reform ending a long time requirement that all Cubans obtain permission to travel abroad.

Under the old rules, government critics who are branded as "counter-revolutionary" sellouts and the paid stooges of foreign interests were routinely denied exit visas.

Sanchez visited more than a dozen countries in Europe and the Americas and gave speeches criticising President Raul Castro's Communist-led government.

She also met with human rights activists and foreign lawmakers, and cultivated relationships with journalists at leading Western newspapers.

In the process, she picked up more than 100,000 new Twitter followers to top the half-million mark.

She is less well-known at home, however.

Of 20 Cubans surveyed informally by The Associated Press this week in Havana, just seven said they had heard her name, and several of those were unclear on exactly who she was.

Only three were aware of her global tour.

Her challenge now is to try to change that.

Sanchez has said a main goal of the trip was to prepare herself to launch an independent online newspaper in Cuba, something will surely rankle local authorities.

The government, for its part, will be closely scrutinised abroad for how it treats her.

At the same time, by allowing her to travel it has undercut accusations from foreign capitals and human rights groups that it essentially held its citizens hostage through the now-scrapped exit visa requirement.

Analysts say Sanchez's rising international fame likely insulates her physically from arrest.

She has told people close to her she expects to be the target of less detention but more propaganda offensives by the government and its allies.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson said on Sunday that he intends to press on with a bid to mediate the retrieval of a former US soldier captured by Colombian rebels three months ago, despite the cool response to his plan from that country's president.

Jackson said he still plans to travel to Colombia in the coming days in hopes of negotiating a cease-fire for a patch of jungle where US citizen Kevin Scott Sutay can be picked up safely.

The guerrilla army known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has repeatedly called for a halt to hostilities during peace talks being carried out in Havana since November, but Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has refused.

Jackson said a lengthy pause in the fighting is not necessary for his mission.

Jackson announced on Saturday that he had accepted a FARC invitation to intervene in the case of Sutay, who was detained by the rebels while hiking through the jungle in June.

According to the FARC, Sutay was wearing military fatigues and carrying surveillance equipment.

Jackson said the guerrillas told him that Sutay is "free to leave," but the logistics of that happening safely have to be worked out.

"We need the ceasefire zone and the capacity to retrieve him," Jackson told reporters after meeting with FARC leadership in Havana's Hotel Nacional on Sunday.

Following the announcement on Saturday, Santos said on Twitter that "only the Red Cross will be authorised to facilitate the handover of the North American kidnapped by the FARC. We will not allow a media spectacle."

Santos has repeatedly said he would not send public figures to retrieve Sutay, insisting it be done discreetly by the International Red Cross.

The Red Cross in Colombia sought to stay out of the fray.

Jackson expressed the hope the talks in Cuba will yield a peace agreement and said he remains optimistic a deal can be negotiated on Sutay.

He said on Sunday that he felt Santos had been "full of goodwill" following meetings between the two about Sutay in Colombia two weeks ago, and said he felt the Colombian president really did want to resolve the issue.

AP TELEVISION

1. Various of Reverend Jesse Jackson walking accompanied by FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) leadership, FARC lead negotiator in peace talks with Colombian government Ivan Marquez (left) walking next to Jackson

2. Wide of Jackson coming out of hotel to address the media

3. Jackson with media

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rev. Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Activist and Baptist Minister:

++Simultaneous Spanish translation++

"We still intend to go to Colombia in a matter of days to retrieve Kevin Scott. Today he is free to leave, but we need the ceasefire zone and the capacity to retrieve him."

5. Wide of Jackson with media

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Activist and Baptist Minister:

++Simultaneous Spanish translation++

"When I met with Mr. Santos (Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos) I thought he was full of goodwill. I think he really wants it solved, but he's trying to avoid a diversion. And I really think all of us are, so we need not point a finger at him. We want to relieve any unnecessary or unfounded fears he may have."

7. Jackson with media

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini met with Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on Sunday during her trip to Cuba for the Cuba-European Union Joint Council in Havana.

Rodríguez said via Twitter said that the work of the joint committee has shown that "there are more elements that unite us than those that separate us," adding "we will continue to work with respect, trust, transparency and cooperation."

Cuba is in a delicate economic situation with little growth and its main partner in Latin America, Venezuela, is facing political and financial tensions.

Mogherini's visit to Cuba comes at a time when US President Donald Trump's administration has toughened sanctions against the island nation.  

The first Cuba-EU Joint Council took place in Belgium on 15 May 2018.

Havana – 8 September 2019

1. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez shaking hands, posing for photo, leaving

2. Various Mogherini and Rodríguez during meeting

3. European flag flying

4. Exterior of Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs building

5. Cuban flag flying

AP TELEVISION

++16:9++

1. Wide of Cuban President Raul Castro arriving at Mass

2. Various of religious students singing, waving flags

3. Various of Pope Benedict XVI arriving at Mass

POOL

++4:3++

4. Wide Revolution Square

5. Pan crowd at Mass

6. Mid members of clergy

7. Pan of church official taking Bible to Pope

8. Close Pope Benedict XVI holding up Bible

9. Mid Raul Castro observing Mass

10. UPSOUND: (Spanish) Pope Benedict XVI (cuts to various shots):

"On the other hand there are those who wrongly interpret this search for the truth, leading them to irrationality and fanaticism; they close themselves up in 'their truth' and try to impose it on others."

11. Wide Revolution Square

12. Various Pope performing Mass

AP TELEVISION

++16:9++

13. Wide crowd on Revolutionary Square, with Che Guevara monument in background

14. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Vox pop, Name not given:

"I hope there are some changes because when John Paul II came there were favourable changes for religion and for the people. I hope Benedict also brings good changes."

15. Zoom out Hector Maseda standing in doorway of his home

16. Medium picture of Ladies in White founder and Maseda's deceased wife, Laura Pollan on wall

17. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hector Maseda, Dissident:

"We think there is not going to be because of the different official declarations from the Vatican via various sources and from the ecclesiastical authorities here in Cuba, confirm the same. It's a shame because the Holy Father will not leave with a true vision of what is happening here in Cuba."

18. Medium Maseda reading about Papal visit in newspaper

STORYLINE

Pope Benedict XVI demanded greater freedom for the Catholic Church in Cuba during Mass before hundreds of thousands of people Wednesday in the shrine of the island's communist revolution, denouncing "fanaticism" that tries to impose its truth on others.

Benedict's unusually politicized homily was a not-so-subtle jab at Cuba's government before a vast crowd in Revolution Plaza, but he also used plain language to urge an end to Cuba's isolation, a reference to the 50-year U.S. economic embargo and the inability of 11 American presidents and brothers Fidel and Raul Castro to forge peace.

With the country's leadership listening from front-row seats, Benedict issued his strongest denunciation of religious intolerance yet in Cuba, referring to the Biblical account of how people persecuted by the Babylonian king "preferred to face death by fire rather than betray their conscience and their faith."

He said people find freedom when they seek the truth that Christianity offers.

"On the other hand there are those who wrongly interpret this search for the truth, leading them to irrationality and fanaticism; they close themselves up in 'their truth' and try to impose it on others," he said from the altar in the shadow of Cuba's revolution hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Benedict didn't cite the government by name, but later he urged Cuban authorities to let the church more freely preach its message and educate its young in the faith in schools and universities.

"It must be said with joy that in Cuba steps have been taken to enable the church to carry out her essential mission of expressing her faith openly and publicly," he said. "Nonetheless this must continue forward" for the good of Cuban society.

The remarks came before Benedict's eagerly anticipated meeting with Fidel Castro, confirmed last night by the revolutionary leader himself.

Cubans waving flags and banners large and small filled Revolution Plaza for the morning Mass, shielding themselves from the blistering sun with umbrellas as Benedict passed by in his white popemobile. President Raul Castro and leading Cabinet officials wore white, formal guayabera shirts, and Raul later climbed the steps to the altar and shook Benedict's hand.

"Viva Cuba! Viva el Papa!" the announcers shouted.

The Mass filled Havana's Revolutionary Square with Cubans, some holding signs or wearing T-shirts or other items with religious messages.

"I hope there are some changes because when John Paul II came there were favorable changes for religion and for the people. I hope Benedict also brings good changes," said Clara Garcia.

But others suggested they were here because they were told to attend by their employers in a country where mass shows of support for Fidel have long been a mainstay of his half-century revolution. The plaza holds 600,000 people and appeared nearly full, though many drifted off after registering their presence with teachers and employers.

Ahead of the Mass, dissident blogs and Twitter accounts carried allegations that members of the Ladies in White opposition group had been prevented from attending, and that some opposition leaders were detained, reports that were reiterated by Amnesty International.

Dissident Hector Maseda said he has not been able to speak to any of the Ladies in White for the last three days. He showed visitors his home and cell phones, which were both out of service.

Maseda lamented there would no meeting between the Pope and dissidents saying the Vatican will not have a clear picture of Cuba's Human Rights situation.

"We think there is not going to be because of the different official declarations from the Vatican via various sources and from the ecclesiastical authorities here in Cuba, confirm the same. It's a shame because the Holy Father will not leave with a true vision of what is happening here in Cuba."

The Ladies were allowed to march peacefully the day before the Pope arrived, but dozens were arrested in a similar march the week before.

During a nearly hour-long meeting Tuesday with Raul Castro - twice the normal length of papal audiences with heads of state - Benedict asked that the government declare a holiday for Good Friday, when Catholics commemorate the death of Christ.

The request, like so much of this trip, was a follow-up of sorts to Cuba's decision to declare Christmas a national holiday in honour of John Paul's 1998 visit. Cubans hadn't had Christmas off for nearly 30 years.

The government didn't give an immediate response.

Cuba announced on Thursday it's expanding Internet access by adding Wi-Fi capacity to dozens of state-run Internet centres and more than halving the cost that users pay for an hour online.

The announcement is the first significant expansion of the internet on the island since the United States and Cuba agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations in December.

Thirty-five government computer centres around the country will have Wi-Fi starting next month, and the price of one hour online would drop to 2 US dollars from 4.50 US dollars now, the Communist government said.

That price remains unaffordable for most Cubans but the change would represent a significant improvement in access for many people.

Home Internet remains illegal for most of the Cuban population and online access at offices with Internet is highly limited and controlled.

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 18 June 2015

1. Cubans surfing the internet at Wi-Fi (wireless internet) hotspot, Cuban flag painted on wall

2. Close of people using mobile phones

3. Various of Cubans gathered at Wi-Fi hotspot

4. Close of laptop

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Eliecer Mesa, Cuban student:

"The internet is a network, a worldwide computing system, and it's good that we have access to everything the internet represents, so we can communicate with the whole world."

6. Young women surfing the internet

7. Close of tablet

8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yoan Llannes, Havana resident:

"The first thing they need to improve now is the (internet) service. The download speed is a little slow sometimes and you spend the 4.50 (US dollars, referring to the price of one hour online) very quickly when you connect to pages like Facebook or Twitter. The prices should keep going down."

9. Close of mobile phone

10. People walking on street near Wi-Fi hotspot

11. Cars passing by street, people waiting to cross

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide of exterior of exhibition centre Pabellon Cuba where Cuban bloggers gathered for meeting

2. Sign on wall, reading: "Cuba", man walking by

3. Pan of bloggers at computers inside venue

4. Close of hand typing on keyboard, tilt up to monitor screen showing "Twitter" social networking website homepage

5. Wide of bloggers around table in front of computers

6. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Alejandro Cruz, Cuban blogger:

"It's very difficult to separate Cuba from politics, anything you do, any joke by a friend can be interpreted as political. It's really part of life, the life we have been chosen to lead, but it doesn't scare me at all."

7. Mid of Cruz at computer with blogging website on screen, zoom in to screen

8. Mid of another blogger at computer

9. Top shot of another blogger at computer with photographer next to him

STORYLINE:

Cuban bloggers and Twitter users gathered in Havana on Friday marking World Social Forum Day, a nod to the growing clout of social media in societies around the world.

About two dozen Cuban bloggers met at an exhibition centre in the capital to exchange views, make connections and tap into the web, courtesy of the Cuban Government.

It's a courtesy few other Cubans share, only slightly less than three percent of the island's 12 (m) million residents have access to the internet, and most of those only get their access through heavily controlled and monitored work place computer stations.

That's according to the Cuban government's own statistics.

A much heralded broadband cable connection inaugurated February 9 of this year caused some excitement amongst Cubans anxious to get access to the web, but so far the government has declined to make it broadly available.

Some persistent social media adherents, like blogger Alejandro Cruz, use social media to talk to others on the island, and around the world, about Cuba's popular culture and music scene.

There are other more controversial ones, like Yoanni Sanchez, who writes a highly political blog about life on the island.

Cruz says that's not what he is after but acknowledges the political minefield he sometimes has to navigate when posting on the Internet.

"It's very difficult to separate Cuba from politics, anything you do, any joke by a friend can be interpreted as political. It's really part of life, the life we have been chosen to lead....but it doesn't scare me at all," he says.

According to Akamai Technologies Inc., Cuba has the second lowest Internet penetration of any country in the world, just behind the tiny 374 square-kilometre island nation of Mayotte off the coast of Africa, with less than 200,000 people.

SHOTLIST

FILE: November 2010

1. Mid of Yoani Sanchez, Cuban blogger, at home on her laptop

2. Pan of Sanchez walking in front of Old Capitol building

January 31, 2013

3. Zoom into Sanchez's Twitter page on computer screen with picture of her newly issued passport

4. Mid of Angel Moya, Cuban dissident, on balcony at home

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Angel Moya, Cuban Dissident:

"This is an immigration law that gives the government the right to decide and determine who comes and goes into the country. Therefore, I wasn't surprised. What's more, this negation on behalf of the regime serves to show that they violate the accords reached in 2009 between the Catholic Church and the government of Spain and the regime itself."

6. Pull out from official Gazette containing immigration law

FILE: December 2012

7. Wide of march by Ladies in White protest group, including Berta Soler, wife of Moya, at front on right of screen holding flowers

8. Mid of Ladies in White lined up and chanting: (Spanish) "Laura Pollan lives!" (Pollan is the late founder of the group), Soler is second from left in line

STORYLINE

Two Cuban dissidents who applied for passports to go overseas under recently enacted travel reforms reported mixed results this week, as one former prisoner was turned down while a prominent blogger excitedly tweeted a photo of her brand new, bright blue travel document.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez posted a photo on Wednesday of her passport on her Twitter page.

By her own account Sanchez has on some 20 occasions been rejected for the much-detested exit visa that for decades was required of all islanders seeking to go abroad.

Analysts have called such controls arbitrary and humiliating, though authorities long insisted they were necessary to prevent brain drain.

That requirement ended 14 January when a new law took effect scrapping the permit known as the "white card," which Cuba routinely denied to those it considers "counter-revolutionaries" in the pay of foreign interests and bent on undermining the communist government.

But the case of Angel Moya, who was locked up for years in connection with his political activities, indicates that Cuba intends to exercise a legal clause by which it retains the right to restrict some citizens' right to travel.

Moya, one of 75 other anti-government activists imprisoned in a 2003 crackdown on dissent, said he went to file paperwork and the 50 US dollars' application fee to request a passport, but a clerk turned him down.

"This is an immigration law that gives the government the right to decide and determine who comes and goes into the country. Therefore, I wasn't surprised," he said on Thursday.

"What's more, this negation on behalf of the regime serves to show that they violate the accords reached in 2009 between the Catholic Church and the government of Spain and the regime itself," he added.

Moya said an office clerk at the passport office showed him her computer screen and the file did not contain a specific reason why he was not allowed to apply for the travel document.

But the travel law contains language reserving the right to withhold passports for reasons of national interest and for people with pending legal cases, and he's sure that's affecting his situation.

Moya's release from prison was conditional and technically he's still serving a 20-year sentence for treason that expires in 2023.

The rest of the former prisoners from the 2003 crackdown, like a number of other dissidents with legal issues, presumably could be in the same boat.

Moya's wife Berta Soler, a leader of the Ladies in White protest group, said as far as she knows she's still scheduled to pick up her passport on 8 February.

Government officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Havana usually avoids mentioning the dissidents at all except to accuse them of being traitorous "mercenaries."

Colombia's government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia say they have agreed on the return of a handful of children living in the group's camps to civilian life.

Negotiators working on a peace deal in Havana said Sunday evening that they had agreed to move children younger than 15 out of the FARC's camps.

The head of the rebels' negotiating team told Colombian media last year that there were 13 children younger than 15 living among FARC fighters.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised the agreement on his Twitter account, calling it "historic."

The two sides have been negotiating a peace accord since 2012 that would end their more-than 50 year war.

They missed a deadline for a final deal two months ago and have yet to reach agreement on a cease-fire and the disarming and demobilizing of rebels into temporary protected zones.

Colombia's government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia say they have agreed on the return of a handful of children living in the group's camps to civilian life.

Negotiators working on a peace deal in Havana said Sunday evening that they had agreed to move children younger than 15 out of the FARC's camps.

The head of the rebels' negotiating team told Colombian media last year that there were 13 children younger than 15 living among FARC fighters.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised the agreement on his Twitter account, calling it "historic."

The two sides have been negotiating a peace accord since 2012 that would end their more-than 50 year war.

They missed a deadline for a final deal two months ago and have yet to reach agreement on a cease-fire and the disarming and demobilizing of rebels into temporary protected zones.

Havana – 15 May 2016

1. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) lead negotiator Ivan Marquez and Colombian government's lead negotiator Humberto de la Calle shaking hands before news conference

2. United Nations representative Leila Serrougui (left) and other officials

3. Colombian Foreign Minister Paula Gaviria seated before news conference

4. FARC and Colombian government negotiators seated before news conference

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ivan Marquez, top FARC commander and lead negotiator:

"Today, the government and the FARC reached a new agreement which will free underage children from the rigors of the conflict. We hope this decision will become the basis for all Colombians to become aware of the urgency to protect the rights of girls, boys and teenagers in the country."

6. De la Calle during news conference

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Humberto de la Calle, Colombian government's lead negotiator:

"Three important measures have been announced: the exit of children younger than 15 years old from the (FARC) camps, the creation of a plan to allow the progressive disassociation of all minors under 18, and the creation of a comprehensive program to provide the best care to these children who leave the war."

8. Serrougui giving speech

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Leila Serrougui, United Nations Representative:

"I call on all Colombian people to support this agreement, and to see this as a crucial element in constructing a durable peace for your country, and ensuring guarantees for non-repetition"

10. Pan right meeting

COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS TWITTER ACCOUNT - AP CLIENTS ONLY

16 May 2016

11. Various screen grabs of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos' Twitter account welcoming the agreement

12. Screen grab of Santos' tweet reading (Spanish) "We reached a historic agreement in Havana to take children away from war"

SHOTLIST:

1. Zoom in Cubadebate website with picture of Fidel Castro during interview with VTV journalist

2. Medium of pictures of Castro scrolling on computer screen

3. Zoom out Ricardo Alarcon in seated in audience at International Press Centre, Havana

5. Medium same

6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ricardo Alarcon, Cuban National Assembly President:

"My understanding is that he''s (Fidel Castro) in perfect health. Just a short while ago Mariela (Castro''s niece) said: ''He''s alive and kicking'' and he''s doing well. Fidel himself said it a while ago: the day he dies no one is going to believe it because they have killed him so many times."

7. Wide of conference room at International Press Centre

STORYLINE

Fidel Castro has broken a long silence by granting an interview to a Venezuelan television station, his first since rumours began to spread that the former Cuban leader might be sick or near death, while a top Cuban official said Thursday that the revolutionary was in "good health."

Photographs of the interview with a journalist from Venezolana de Television were posted on Cubadebate, a state-run website.

The 85-year-old appears relaxed and healthy in the pictures, sitting in an easy chair and dressed casually.

The website says the interview took place on Tuesday in Havana, but it has not yet been broadcast and it was not immediately clear when it would be. It quoted the Venezuelan journalist who conducted the interview, Mario Silva, as saying Castro was "alive and kicking."

"I hate to inform those who are enjoying themselves by believing that Commandante Fidel has had a stroke that he is alive and kicking," Silva said.

Cuban Parliament Chief Ricardo Alarcon also weighed in on the health rumours that have sprung up in recent weeks, saying Castro "is well and enjoying good health."

He added Fidel had already said that the "day he dies nobody will believe it because they had killed him so many times!" he added.

Castro has not appeared in public since April when he seemed unsteady and unusually frail at an important Communist Party summit. He has all but stopped writing his trademark opinion pieces, and didn''t make a statement or release a photograph on his birthday in August.

The silence has led to a fresh round of death rumours from Miami, propagated on exile radio and television stations and through social media sites such as Twitter. Castro''s health was even the subject of a computer virus embedded in a spam email titled "Fidel is Dead."

Castro stepped down - first temporarily, then permanently, in July 2006, handing power over to his brother Raul. He stayed out of the public eye for four years before bursting back on the scene in 2010. But after a flurry of appearances, the former Cuban leader went silent again.

The television interview would be Castro''s first in 2011, though photographs and video of him meeting with Chavez and other visiting dignitaries have been released.