
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the top FARC rebel commander pledged on Wednesday to end Latin America's longest war within six months and sealed their pact with a handshake likely to stand as a lasting image.

Pope Francis has celebrated mass in front of thousands of people in the eastern Cuban city of Holguin. During his homily, he paid tribute to the efforts and sacrifices the Roman Catholic Church has made in Cuba.

Dissidents opposed to Cuba’s regime were arrested when they tried approaching Pope Francis in Havana on Sunday, an activist group reported. The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba identified the dissidents as Patriotic Union of Cuba members Zaqueo Baéz, Boris Reni, Aymara Nieto Muñoz and Maria Josefa Acon Sardiña, who is also a member of the Ladies in White, a peaceful protest group founded by female relatives of Cuban political prisoners.

The Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara’s daughter, Aleida Guevara refused to go to a mass Pope Francis conducted on Sunday during his historic Cuban trip, saying it would be “hypocritical” of her to be present.

Pope Francis praised Cubans' spirit in the face of adversity in a message broadcast ahead of his trip to the impoverished island. It does me a lot of good and helps me to think of your faith in the Lord, of the spirit with which you confront the difficulties of each day, the pope said in a message played on state television.

The United States on Friday issued regulations easing restrictions on US companies seeking to do business in Cuba and opening up travel in the latest action to weaken the trade embargo amid warming relations with the Castro brothers regime.

The former Chargé d'affaires at the Cuban Embassy in the United States, Jose Cabañas, on Thursday presented his diplomatic credentials as ambassador to U.S. President Barack Obama in a new step toward the normalization of bilateral relations.

State-run newspaper Granma reported that Cuba would release 3,522 prisoners three days ahead of the September 19-22 visit by Pope Francis. However Cuban officials, who officially deny that the country has political prisoners, said they would not release inmates convict of crimes against state security.

Deteriorating conditions in Venezuela are causing increasing numbers of Cuban medical personnel working there to immigrate to the United States under a special US program launched in 2006 that expedites their applications.

Representatives of Colombia's largest guerrilla movement have asked to meet Pope Francis in Cuba in September and have requested the Catholic Church name a permanent delegate to their peace negotiations with the government.