Dear Friend:

We don't know, but the big news of the week may be made tomorrow, when Cuba's President Raúl Castro speaks to his nation on the 55th anniversary of the July 26, 1953 assault on the Moncada army barracks by the Castro brothers and their followers.

Over the last year, Raúl Castro has made several high profile speeches which announced developments in Cuba's reform process, and then those words were matched by actions and decisions taken by the Cuban state.

It was in July 2007 when he encouraged a national debate that produced tens of thousands of meetings and over a million suggestions for reform.  It was December 2007 when he targeted excess prohibitions and a few weeks later restrictions on the ownership of cell phones and consumers goods and the ability of Cubans to visit tourist hotels were removed.  In February 2008, when he was elected by the National Assembly as president, President Castro spoke of a smaller state and less red tape, and Cuba embarked on a significant program of agriculture reform and decentralization.

Against this backdrop, there is profound interest in the speech scheduled for Santiago de Cuba, the birthplace of the Cuban revolution, which President Castro will give just two years since his brother Fidel Castro last addressed the Cuban public.  

Here in the United States, Florida's foreign policy was on full display, from more news about waste and corruption in the U.S. AID Cuba program to Senator John McCain airing a political ad pairing Fidel Castro and Barack Obama.  Guess what?  He was campaigning in Florida!

This and more, this week in Cuba news...