Last Friday, I was talking with a young Honduran historian who was referring to Cuba’s Republican stage (1902-1959). She simplified that period by comparing it to how she sees Panama today: a paradise for gambling and sex but with a government that is failing to provide its citizens a dignified life.
Here’s what I learned last summer about Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (Ricky Ricardo from the U.S. TV series I Love Lucy).
This occurs despite the institution being characterized by the country’s top leaders as “the most democratic in the world.”
Erasmo and I are not naïve, and though what we spoke about with Henken was only our opinions on various issues, we know perfectly well that when meeting with a foreigner to talk about our opinion of cyberspace and the country, in the eyes of “powerful and dogmatic” individuals, we could possibly be committing a crime.
At the Main Bus Terminal in Havana, a well-known system is used for people to get a bus without having purchased a ticket weeks in advance, which is what most people do. This involves the dreaded “waiting list.”
With the recent congress of the Communist Party having concluded, a friend of mine visiting here in Havana asked me if I thought it was possible for leaders who have been so anchored to their dogma for so many years to change their mentality.
The date April 27, 1971 seems unimportant, though it certainly is. That was the occasion when a good part of the world’s intellectuals officially broke with the Cuban Revolution.
A friend called me to ask what I knew about the accusation made against Cuban artist Agustin Bejarano. It seems that during a recent trip to Miami by him and his wife to attend the Latin American Art Arteamericas Fair, he was arrested by the local authorities under the sensitive charge of pedophilia.
The difficult circumstance of always being too close to these treacherous Jurassic residents makes me vulnerable. The fact is, I’m no David.
I find it all even more incomprehensible when someone who politically disagrees here is called a “dissident” and ends up also being branded a “mercenary.” I find it difficult to understand such a contradiction.