It is amazing how easy it is to improve your dancing by watching the videos and the explanations, cause then when you go to practice, you know what to do and what you are looking for in the exercises.

It is a master piece for understanding the underline concepts of this marvelous dance

The most amazing dancing I've seen so far. The videos are good and the explanations are very useful because the sequences are really for advanced dancers.

What a timely book!! Too bad that Cuba is no longer on the UN Security Council--its revolutionaries are badly needed to tell the truth, as they did thirteen years ago when the US was poised to attack Iraq in the Gulf War. As the documents in this book show, they were the only ones who had the guts to take on the US in the United Nations--not from a fake antiwar stance as the governments of France and Germany do today--but from the standpoint of international working-class solidarity. This books shows why the US is once again beating the war drums and it also shows why the US government can't stand Cuba. Viva Cuba! Bring the troops home NOW!

An excellent background to the current U.S. plans to attack and occupy Iraq. Drawn from the debate in the United Nations Security Council in 1990, this book highlights the revolutionary role of Cuba, which was then a member of the Security Council.

Cuban Representative Ricardo Alarcón asked, "Is it really the need to promote respect for the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of states that motivates the United States? Or is it the ambition of the United States to intervene and dominate the Middle East?"

This book, which includes speeches by Fidel Castro as well as Alarcón, will help clarify the real aims of the imperialists' first war against Iraq, as well as the second one.

With US Imperialism preparing a war in the Middle East that will dwarf the Gulf War discussed here, this book is needed just as much as it was needed during the Gulf War. The leaders of the Cuban revolution in the UN and beyond pointed out then, and point out today that the real objectives of imperialism in this war are nothing less than a colonial conquest of the one of the richest oil countries on Earth. Listen to these voices, not the lies of Emron-paid-for-my-campaign Bush when you consider what the coming war is all about. Listen to these voices and understand that no matter how bad the regime in Iraq is, the struggle of the Iraqi people is part of the struggle of all the peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America to throw off the economic and political domination of the imperialist countries of Europe, North America, and Japan. Read these words and join the struggle against imperialist war and for the self-determination of the oppressed of the Earth!

I recently had a holiday in Cuba and found this book available in English everywhere. I found it very convincing as to who was behind the conspiracy. If you plan a holiday in Cuba pick up a copy there.

"ZR Rifle" appeared at about the time when Fonzi's "Last Investigation," Scott's "Deep Politics," and Prouty's "JFK" showed up in the bookstores. Since Ms. Furiati has been characterized as "sympathetic" to Castro's revolution, I approached it with caution, only because I needed to know if the book itself could be discredited as another strand of misinformation in an entire web of misinformation spun over the course of forty years.

What I find instead is another well-researched and objective attempt to explain more clearly the strands in the conspiracy web already suggested by the contemporary literature. As I began reading "ZR Rifle," I attempted to verify each fact presented in succession against what I know from other independent sources. I relaxed those efforts after fifty or sixty pages because the book is well-footnoted and the documentary support for its explanation is solid. The book, which can be read in one sitting, adds more detail and clarity to the speculations and background provided by the other authors of this last decade's research.

"ZR Rifle"s strongest point is its reliance on documents and testimony provided by General Fabian Escalante, a veteran official of the Cuban State Security Service -- Castro's intelligence agency. Imagine, if you will, a country in a state of seige, a country made a pawn in the dangerous game of Cold-War nuclear weapons strategies, and a country that began to suspect itself as the intended scapegoat of a conspiracy hatched on American soil to murder an American President. Escalante occupied a position at the center of Cuba's own investigation to discover the Truth about the Guns of Dallas. Such a perspective provides ponderous advantages, because, unlike the problem of the fox guarding the chicken-coup, Cuban intelligence was able to place its own agents among the Cuban-exile community with a primary objective of turning up new facts. And these new facts substantiate what we already know about the complicity of David Atlee Phillips and other non-mob actors within the CIA itself.

The book presents a new challenge for researchers of both the "serious" and armchair variety who want to unravel the complicated inconsistencies concerning the "Oswald in Mexico" story. Cuban documents -- specifically passport applications -- controvert the idea that Oswald was never in Mexico. The facts that document his presence there raise additional questions as to why the CIA propagated the photos of the beefy-looking Oswald imposter, and the meaning of last November's revelations about voice-print identification inconsistencies with the real Oswald. The one certainty that stands out, other than the Cuban evidence, is that all the paradoxes concerning Oswald in Mexico bear the trade-mark of David Atlee Phillips.

My own model of the assassination has the shape of an hour-glass, or two pyramids each facing the opposite direction and intersecting at their apex. As with any methodical murder investigation, the "bottom-up" approach represented by Furiati and Fonzi fills in the details of the actual operations and execution of the conspiracy. Prouty's book, "JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Assassination of . . ." represents a perspective from the other pyramid. The implications about the power-elite responsible for the Guns of Dallas are clear, but more evidence is needed. Americans in the year 2000 can easily vote on their suspicions alone. Those citizens of a more cerebral inclination can simply cut to the chase and formulate their own alternative replacements to the US Constitution. But to actually implement such a change requires massive public support that can only derive from a ponderous body of facts.

That is probably why Furiati was unable to publish her book in the United States. Again, there is a smoking gun in the hands of unidentified media influentials. One can only speculate that someone -- someone -- still worries about the sort of name-dropping that occurs on page 15 of Furiati's book. The fact that the ARRB Final Report was published in the same month that Congress voted to impeach Clinton, and that chapter 6 of that report contains thought-provoking comments about the individual mentioned by Furiati -- is no mean or insignificant coincidence.

The same group that was trying to kill Castro did succeed in assassinating President Kennedy. They are: anti-Castro Cubans, CIA, mafia, and the Watergate burglers.

"Democracy Delayed" is an excellent comparative study of the political forces that influence transitions in totalitarian societies and a comparison of present day Cuba under Castro and similar scenarios in Eastern Europe. It is a well researched document that is required reading for political science students interested in Cuban politics or transitional forces and their effect on totalitarian systems. Dr. Juan J. Lopez is one of the most intelligent political analists on Cuban affairs, going beyond the "cliche" to well thought out and researched conclusions.

Details of Value, Overview Clear and Cogent, Understanding Complete

This book (Juan Lopez 2002 Democracy Delayed John Hopkins University Press) is a "must read" for one trying understanding the complexities of Cuba.

Too often in books on Cuba, one sees errors of fact, misunderstandings and omissions of history, and above all blindness to what is really happens on that sad island.

You will find none of these illusions and errors in this book. This volume's wealth of details of value, its coherent, cogent and clear overview will lead the careful and discerning reader to a far more complete and greater understanding of Cuba's present and past circumstance than any other academic book I have ever read.

Larry Daley (Garcia-Iñiguez Enamorado)
Corvallis, Oregon
Formerly of Column One (Assault) Company Six M-7-26 (1958)

Mario Lamar is not only a gifted story-teller, he shines a spotlight upon the Cuban peoples suffering under Castro for the world to see. Escape from Castro is a gripping, fast paced novel told by an Officer and gentleman who lived through it all. A poignant work of passion, this book is a must read.

The book is purportedly fiction, however, judging from the insight and history of the author you realize as you read that this account must be based on facts.

It is an extremely engaging novel that captures what life must have been like in the first years of Castro's dictatorship.

It is important that those of us outside the exiled Cuban community learn of the atrocities that have been and still are committed by Castro and his lackeys just miles from our shores.

The characters are well defined and the book's organization is flawless. The day it came I couldn't put it down and finished it in one sitting.

Escape from Castro is a novel that will stay with me long after Castro is gone!

This book was wonderfully well-written and I am not just saying that because one of the authors, Jeff M. Elliot, is my Pol. Sci. professors!! In, response to the last review by "A Reader" - You need to get over yourself!! The use of "Persident" and "Republic" is NOT being used subversively - GET A LIFE!!! It was a wonderful look at Castro's Presidency!!!

I would like to inform the writers of this book that a "republic" according to the dictionary is a country where the "president" has been elected by voters, by the people, that is. There has not been a public vote in Cuba for 38 years. The people have not elected Fidel Castro as their president. He elected himself so I strongly suggest that you change the title of the book. You are maliciously and with felonious intent subverting the meaning of "republic" and "president" and I do resent calling Fidel what he is not.

If you want to "do" the birds in depth, this is THE book for learning about the incredible endemics that gave rise to Charles Darwin's theories about evolution, as well as the resident and migrant birds for the "Islas Encantadas". (If what you need is a portable, topical and fairly complete field guide to all the critters here, get "An Identification Guide to the Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles of the Galpagos Islands" by Andy Swash et al, ISBN: 0300088647, here on Amazon instead.)

Unlike another reviewer, I DO recommend going to the Galápagos, but I also suggest doing research (Barry Boyce's guide, and others) to choose a "green" small boat trip of a week or ten days, one that assures minimum impact.

Politically, these unique and valuable islands are in peril right now from what has heretofore been an uncaring and corrupt government that has allowed illegal migration of people and their cirtters (one result was the 2002 oil spill off San Cristobal), untrammeled shark finning, sea cucumber gathering and commercial fishing within the boundaries of a most unique and valuable World Heritage Site and presumably legally-protected Ecuadorian National Park. Ecotourism has provided the money, concern and motivation to keep these islands preserved for research and future generations- for now. GO on this trip of a lifetime, but please tread lightly, observe and learn, support the "Islas Encantadas" from being fished out and plundered.

This guide chronicles all you ever needed to know about the birds of the Galapagos! As a biologist, I am interested in many kinds of books about different species of animals, and this is among the best I have seen about the Galapagos. Hopefully more people who are eco-conscious will decide to buy guides like this one, instead of actually visiting the islands directly, we're leaving too many footprints on a valuable resource. Whether you are dreaming of a trip to the islands, or just plain curious, this book will help you become well aquainted with the birds of the Galapagos.

In The Pirate's Den: My Life As A Secret Agent For Castro is the autobiography of Jorge Masetti, a man who worked as a secret agent for Fidel Castro for twenty years. Bringing the reader a uniquely personal and informative viewpoint from inside the war rooms of the Cuban revolution, In the Pirate's Den is filled with accounts of international intrigue, drug smuggling, counterfeiting U.S. dollars, and international missions for Cuban Intelligence that often extended into war zones. An often dramatic, sometimes horrifying, and always keenly insightful testimony, In The Pirate's Den is unusual, revealing, and highly recommended reading.

This book is required reading for anybody who wishes to understand the truth about Fidel Castro's Cuba and the damage it has done to the United States, Latin America, and the world. The bunglers who convinced John Kennedy (against his instincts)to refrain from removing Castro at all costs while we still could at relatively moderate cost, have the blood of countless thousands on their hands. This "little island" led by a sinister, violent crackpot, has done as much real damage to our interests and to the lives of millions of innocent, decent people, as all our other enemies combined. From 1959 to the present day Castro has been intimately involved in fomenting war, terrorism, and the obstruction of genuine democratic reform in countries the world over. Cuban-backed guerrilla movements, though they wandered into a bloody political and military dead end, did much to rob Latin America of the opportunity for 40 years of political and economic development. Military dictatorships across the continent were provoked time and again by terror campaigns directed from Havana. I could say more, but it will suffice to say I know Cuba well, and this book is true.

This is a great, crude story told in a fascinating way by this fantastic author. Check "Mi alma se la dejo al diablo","El Hurakan", and any of his books.

How can it be possible that no one has reviwed this book yet???? It is great try it It talks with real details about the beggining of drug dealer in Colombia and all their relations with politicians

On a recent flight I reached for Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin," only to find I had picked up this book by mistake. Much to my surprise, it was every bit at enthralling as any of Atwood's novels. A lot of critical writing tends to be dry, but this book is like a juicy turkey sandwich with an extra dollop of mayonaise. If you like Margaret Atwood's work as much as I do, you should read this book.

Margaret Atwood is one of my all-time favorite authors. I probably almost finished at least 2 of her books. But this one-this one I relished. Why? Because it is unparalleled in this world. It is one of the greatest books ever written that is not in Oprah's book club. I shall now use the thesaurus. It is recherche. It is worth its weight in gold. It is a giltedged, exquisite, in seipso totus teres atque rotundus! It is a work so profound that it outshines even Atwood herself, rendering her entirely obsolete. Read this, I insist.