Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos announced Tuesday that two women will be joining negotiators for the government in ongoing peace talks with the counrty’s largest rebel group the FARC in Havana, Cuba. The two women named were Maria Paulina, a lawyer and human rights advocate, and Nigeria Renteria, currently the High Presidential Adviser on Women’s Equality.

Diplomats often speak with purposeful ambiguity, to please multiple audiences and to not give away their hand prematurely. But a careful parsing of diplo-speak can offer valuable clues in anticipating future policy moves. In what was billed as a major statement on U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean, earlier this week Secretary of State John Kerry included four substantive paragraphs on Cuba — which were largely misinterpreted by the U.S. media.

Negotiations with Marxist guerrillas are closer than ever to ending a 50-year conflict, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in an interview after a breakthrough in talks, even as his political opponents accuse his government of selling out to the rebels. “I think this time we will reach an agreement, and we will have peace,” Santos said, appearing relaxed, the collar of his dress shirt unbuttoned, as he flew on the presidential plane to this northern city to oversee infrastructure projects. “We have never even been close to what we have already achieved.”

In the wake of the Cuban revolution, many middle class Cubans emigrated to the United States. But in the intervening decades, Cuba’s universal public education has spawned new middle classes, of government officials, professional engineers and accountants, and in increasing numbers today, private entrepreneurs. Here’s how many Cubans fit the category of “middle class.”

Cuba takes special measures to hold on to one of its most precious cultural resources: ballet dancers. To discourage defections, authorities sometimes keep talented performers from touring or warn younger artists that finding a ballet job will be tough in an unappreciative capitalist world.

Cuba closed dozens of home-based movie theaters on Saturday and reaffirmed its plans to end the private sale of imported goods as communist authorities pressed for "order, discipline and obedience" in the growing small business sector. A government statement issued through official media said home-based theaters and video games will "stop immediately in any type of self employment," a local euphemism for small business.

Cuba has approved a plan to gradually eliminate its dual monetary system as part of reforms aimed at improving the country’s economic performance, a communique carried by official media on Tuesday said. “The Council of Ministers has adopted a chronogram of measures that will lead to monetary and exchange unification,” the government statement said, giving few details.

Most Cubans remain cut off from the Internet but are still using creating ways to access and spread information online, a dissident blogger told journalists from around the Americas Sunday. Yoani (YO'-ahn-ee) Sanchez gave a largely grim report of the state of the press in Cuba at a meeting of the Inter American Press Association in Denver. She said President Raul Castro's regime has been aggressive in arresting and beating people who speak out against the government and has failed to document those actions, as his brother Fidel did. However, she said neither is better than the other.