Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban president Raul Castro and niece of Fidel Castro, was granted a visa by the U.S. government this week, causing a stir among Republicans who want to paint Obama as a commie or something. Castro, 50, is the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education in Havana and has has been a vociferous advocate for LGBT rights in Cuba. She came with a contingent of Cuban academics, and her first stop was in San Francisco on Wednesday where she spoke at a panel at SF General Hospital on health care for transgender patients. Those in attendance who know her as a campaigner for same-sex marriage applauded her, and there were no anti-communist protesters crawling out of the woodwork to blame her for the ills of her uncle.

She did however, through a translator, say something about the embargo against Cuba that's gotten the Latino press riled up, referring to its supporters as a "tiny mafia" of Cuban Americans.

Meanwhile, LGBT Cubans in Miami are speaking out and calling Mariela Castro a hypocrite for saying she supports same-sex marriage and transgender rights while her father's regime still doesn't allow basic freedoms, like freedom of assembly, to any Cubans gay or straight.

Anyway, is it just us or is it insane that conservatives are still trying to use communism and Cuba as a weapon in a political campaign in 2012. Guess those elderly voters are really easy to rile up.

This morning Castro is in the Castro touring the GLBT History Museum, and later today she'll be chairing a panel at the Latin American Studies Association conference at the Marriott.

[Chron]
[Towleroad]
[Fox News Latino]