Author: Dimitri Prieto-Samsonov

When I was a little boy, I liked the Cuban cartoon “Guaso and Carburo.” It was an animated comic strip produced in the 1970s —I think— and involved two dogs, Guaso and Carburo.

The decision to combat workplace theft through an increase in “control” has contributed to the proliferation of security guards in all official institutions. Faced with this situation, some say that half of the work force is trying to steal while the other half is trying to prevent them.

I was inspired with a certain hope by the daring humanitarian convoy that sought to break the Israeli maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip. The activists were relying on the peaceful and philanthropic nature of their operation, despite the clarity with which the Israeli government asserted that it would not allow their landing in Gaza.

Havana had its private clubs and beaches long before the 1959 revolution, however, for as long as I can remember, the parks have always been public. And that’s how they are today.

A wise woman once told me: “Perhaps not all abusers of animals will become fascists when they grow up; but in their childhood, all fascists were abusers of animals.”

What I found more worrisome was when I heard Hugo Chavez a few days later saying that socialism had existed in Latin America before the arrival of the European conquistadors. The Venezuelan leader said native peoples had experienced a socialist system and that such a reality was frustrated by the capitalist system brought over by the settlers.

I find any generalization particularly appalling concerning the virtues and defects of groups of people based on their sexual orientation, nutritional habits or the hair density of their scalp. I believe that people are good as people in accordance with what each one of them carries in their heart, and not based on trivialities like those mentioned.

Fidel Castro has proposed a new name for people from the USA. Listening to Fidel’s “Reflections” read recently on the noon news , the Commandant used the term “Usamerican,” an adjective derived from USA.

I believe that the best thing that can happen to OFICODA is to turn it into the basis of a future retail trade cooperative in Cuba. That solution, in my humble opinion, would maintain fairness while instituting the democratic leadership of citizens in the self-management of such cooperatives.

As bureaucratic offices at the grassroots level, with their time-worn tables and crumpled files, the storefronts of the OFICODA branches constitute a complete symbol of a social paradigm or model. At these facilities, various officials —usually women— are in charge of keeping a list of everyone who has permanent residency in the area.