Author: Erasmo Calzadilla

Are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost different facets of the same and only God? Or are they distinct representations of the same divinity? Perhaps they are three different Gods with coordinated roles? On maybe some other variation on the theme…? What a huge mystery contained in so few words!

By the manner in which that person wrote, they seemed to be someone connected to the school – a student or a teacher – who scribbled their offensive comments so full of bile. Notwithstanding, there’s no one with that name in the university where I worked.

Given that the danger and threat posed by the US was no less back then than it is today, Marti intensely called for unity. However, by no means did he assume the need for a unity that implied homogeneity of thought or the strict observance of the will of a single leader.

In addition, parents take advantage of the visit to the zoo to offer their children a lesson in hygiene and Puritanism, and encourage the kids to shout offensive things to the animals when they pick their noses or masturbate in their miserable surroundings.

There is no better evidence of the precarious health of this society than the oppressive reproductions of Fidel’s face on every corner, or the immortalized quotations by him and the rest of the commandants. There is hardly one thoroughfare in this city that is not overwhelmed with hulking posters that represent them at different stages of their lives.

In the first few days of the coup d’état against Zelaya, I heard the word “constitution” bandied about in the media more times than I had ever in my life. Prompted by this, I wrote a few words about how unusual this was for the Cuban people; perhaps the situation is similar with Australians, I don’t know.

Perhaps by chance, El Loco (the lunatic) and his stooges showed up walking down the street. El Loco lives very close to my house; in fact, I practically saw him born, grow up, and take one step after another along the road to delinquency.

On a recent Saturday morning I was once again overwhelmed by Leibniz’s “New Essays Concerning Human Understanding.” I was sitting there astonished with how obscure and muddled the great philosophers can be – or perhaps their translations – when my grandmother came in all worked up and flustered about what she had just seen.

Hopefully they’ll receive electricity soon, but meanwhile I try to make them see the positives of their situation. I warned them that their evening gatherings of the whole family under the intimate glow of a kerosene lamp are the type of things that will disappear, especially with the arrival of TV.

Like on few other occasions, I presently agree with the Cuban mass media with regard to a certain political question. However, I’m beginning to feel a bit strange when I hear Cuban journalists speak with such emphasis on “respect for the constitutional order.”