Author: Erasmo Calzadilla

I love reading Yoani Sanchez’ posts. Her writing has the kind of power many of us want for our own. I can see clearly why she wins international competitions, has become famous and has no shortage of enemies.

The Oil Crash, an interesting blog which analyzes and divulges information related to the imminent energy crisis, was created in January 2010. I discovered it a short while ago and I got both hooked and scared.

As a kid, I was fascinated by sports. I wanted to be like Cuban gymnast Casimiro Suarez, that artist of the rings that so impressed the world in the early 80s. Adults would proudly tell me that our high-performance athletes weren’t professionals (as they were under capitalism) but amateurs.

What is the quality of my sperm? That is what the doctors are trying to find out. The first test I was subjected to yielded such bad results that the technicians were wondering whether, instead of ejaculating, I hadn’t actually spat in the jar they gave me.

Is Cuban filmmaker Daranas’ new film, Conducta (“Conduct”), a political film? Of course it is: politics touches everything and everything, sooner or later, rubs up against politics.

I am doing a monthly summary of the most important Cuba-related events. I fish news from here and there and season them with my profound analyses. I hope you’ll make your own contributions to the summary.

At the beginning of this year, Cuba took another important step towards “normality.” Cubans can now approach a State dealership and buy a car with nothing other than a wad of bills. The problem now is the prohibitive prices.

In recent years, the citizens of Puerto Rico and the Falkland Islands (a.k.a Islas Malvinas) were consulted regarding the status of their respective territories. Both preferred annexation or integration to a First World metropolis over independence. If Cuba were granted the possibility of choosing, what would its citizens decide?

Alexis Jardines is a Cuban professor of philosophy who immigrated a few years ago to the United States. I met him in Havana some years before and we had some conversations, not always so pleasant. On political matters Jardines was an uncompromising hard line and apparently still is.

The way people in Havana have reacted to the high prices of automobiles in this new State market is staggering. People who don’t even earn enough to get through the month are appalled with the news, as though the real possibility of purchasing a vehicle had been ripped from their hands.