June 11, 2012:  Democracy Now! features a variety of coverage on Mariela Castro (daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro and advocate for LGBT rights and the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba), and also discusses Saul Landau’s “Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up?”

Video:  Mariela Castro, Daughter of Cuban President, Helps Lead Struggle for LGBTQ Rights in Changing Cuba:  In a Democracy Now! special, we begin our hour on Cuba with a rare interview with Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro. Mariela Castro is best known in Cuba for her ardent support of gay, lesbian and transgender rights and as the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education in Havana. During a rare visit to the U.S., Castro discusses her work in Cuba battling anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

Video:  Mariela Castro on Ending the Embargo & Swapping Cuban Five for Jailed U.S. Contractor Alan Gross:  Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro, calls on the U.S. to release five Cubans jailed for spying on anti-Cuban militants in Florida in exchange for Alan Gross, a U.S. citizen jailed in Cuba. The Cuban Five were convicted in 2001 for committing espionage in southern Florida. They say they weren’t spying on the U.S., but trying to monitor right-wing violent Cuban groups that have organized attacks on Cuba. “I want the Cuban Five to go back to Cuba and for Alan Gross to go home,” Castro says. “I want an end to the financial, commercial and economic blockade that violates the human rights of the Cuban people, and the normalization of relations between both countries.”

Video:  Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up: Saul Landau on U.S.-Aided Anti-Castro Militants & the Cuban 5:  Award-winning journalist, filmmaker, author, professor Saul Landau has made more than 45 films and written 14 books, many about Cuba. His latest film is “Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up,” about U.S. support for violent anti-Castro militants. Landau joins us to discuss the history of the Cuban Five and U.S. support for a group of anti-Castro militants who have been behind the bombing of airplanes, the blowing up of hotels and assassinations. Today they are allowed to live freely in the United States. “What did Cuba do to us?,” Landau asks. “Well, the answer, I think, is that they were disobedient, in our hemisphere. And they did not ask permission to take away property. They took it away. They nationalized property. And the United States … has never forgiven them.”

See Mariela Castro on CNN!  June 4, 2012:  Christiane Amanpour talks frankly about her chat with Mariela Castro and her goal to build better ties with the U.S.