While some journalists reporting in Latin America face threats to personal security, others deal with official intimidation in what some warn could roll back hard-won press freedoms. But governments and journalists have also taken steps to ensure greater access to information.

Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) predicts the Senate will lift the U.S. travel ban to Cuba this congressional session.

A U.S. journalist finds the island is still waiting for change.

The OAS' recent decision to allow Cuba to reenter its ranks was largely a symbolic vote, which detracted attention from the deeper hemispheric problems of poverty, inequality, and security.

At an AS/COA launch for The Portable Island: Cubans at Home in the World, the book's editors joined Cuban experts in discussing the Cuban diaspora and the implications of the U.S. embargo. This book will be reviewed in the Summer 2009 Americas Quarterly.

An OAS task force will examine proposals, including one from Washington, which could pave the way for Havana to rejoin the OAS. But the Obama administration has indicated that Cuba must adhere to democratic principles before gaining readmission.