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Mitch PerryMarch 12, 2015

Although many people in Tampa are hoping a Cuban consulate comes to Tampa, a committee in the state Senate on Thursday officially disapproved of any such diplomatic outpost coming to Florida. The Senate Rules Committee approved SM 866, a largely symbolic bill that puts the committee on the record as expressing “profound disagreement” with President Barack Obama‘s […]

Mitch PerryMarch 5, 2015

There are 196 nations on Earth, yet the U.S. State Department lists only four as state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Sudan, Syria, and Cuba (Saudi Arabia didn’t make the list). Getting removed from that list is a huge issue for the Cuban government, since all banks that engage with them are subject to U.S. screenings […]

Mitch PerryMarch 5, 2015

The question one has to ask after reading just the summary of the Justice Department report on the goings-on with the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department is: How many other municipal law enforcement agencies act this way in America? If you want the headline from Wednesday to read that Justice concluded that the Ferguson PD violated no federal laws in […]

Mitch PerryMarch 5, 2015

The question one has to ask after reading just the summary of the Justice Department report on the goings-on with the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department is: How many other municipal law enforcement agencies act this way in America? If you want the headline from Wednesday to read that Justice concluded that the Ferguson PD violated no federal laws in […]

Mitch PerryMarch 4, 2015

Mayor Bob Buckhorn may be neutral about the idea, but the business community is all in when it comes to the possibility of Tampa landing a Cuban consulate. Last week, the board of directors of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce unanimously endorsed re-establishing a secure Cuban consulate in the Tampa/Hillsborough County area when relations […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 23, 2015

According to reports from the Cuban Patriotic Union or UNPACU, about 200 dissidents were arrested in Cuba on Sunday. That’s at least the second major roundup of activists that has occurred since President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. and Cuba would begin to normalize relations in December, and prompted U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio on […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 12, 2015

Jim Norman ended a two-decade career in politics in 2012, when he announced he would not run for re-election for the state Senate seat that he won in 2010. It came after Pasco legislator John Legg decided to challenge him in the GOP primary, and it became apparent that the GOP establishment was abandoning him. […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 11, 2015

In recent years Tampa City Council members like Mary Mulhern, Yolie Capin, Harry Cohen and Charlie Miranda have made trips to the communist island, as more and more of the political and business establishment say they want the city to be in the best position if and when the now 53-year-old economic embargo ends. Since […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 4, 2015

WUSF Radio reported Tuesday that Sami Al-Arian is being deported to Turkey, possibly as early as today. If accurate, this development ends a 20-year legal and political odyssey for the former University of South Florida professor, who was accused and pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in 2006. […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 3, 2015

Although nobody has been more critical about the recent diplomatic breakthrough between the White House and Cuba than Marco Rubio, the Florida Senator admitted at the end of today’s 3 1/2 hour hearing on Cuban- American policy that the new changes do have a silver lining – for now, he says, when there are human rights […]

Tag: Cuba
Image via St. Pete Catalyst.

Senate panel opposes opening Cuban consulate in state

Marco Rubio urges John Kerry to leave Cuba on terrorism list

Mitch Perry Report for 3.5.15 — Ferguson's ugly legacy

Mitch Perry Report for 3.5.15 — Ferguson’s ugly legacy

Tampa Chamber supports bringing Cuban consulate to Tampa

Sunday arrest of Cuban dissidents fuels Marco Rubio rip on Obama administration

Mitch Perry Report for 2.12.15 — Jim Norman seriously contemplates return to Hillsborough politics

Tampa City Council candidates favor hosting a Cuban consulate

Mitch Perry Report for 2.4.15 – The Sami Al-Arian odyssey in America ends today

Senate subcommittee chaired by Marco Rubio discusses Cuba-U.S. policy for 3.5 hours