Erasmo Calzadilla, Author at Havana Times

Different Views on How to Overcome Cuba’s Agricultural Problems

Cubans welcomed 2016 startled by food prices. The price of a pound of tomatoes, onions or beans went up to as high as a day’s salary. During the last session of Cuba’s National Assembly, President Raul Castro asked that urgent measures be taken.

San Diego Without the Make-Up

In November, I spent a couple weeks in San Diego, my first trip abroad. I’m still drooling over the city, I admit it, but this has not blinded me to its uglier sides. (10 photos)

San Diego, Havana and Self Esteem

In my previous post, I wrote of the nice things that made me fall in love with “America’s Finest City.” It wasn’t the pretty lights but the important place human beings occupy in the city. (36 photos)

Cleverness vs Hard-headedness: My Fate at Stake

It’s very stressful to head out in the morning, not knowing whether you’ll end up in a cell that day. I like to confront life’s challenges with realism but, on several occasions, I caught myself fantasizing about…

Rebuilding Cubans’ Self-Esteem

Cuba needs many things. If I had to mention one, I would say we need to rediscover our dignity and self-confidence. It seems like a pipe-dream right now, but the storm is coming, and storms tend to bring surprises along with them.

Cuba Food Prices: A Look at a Journalist’s Predictions

In October of 2014, Cuba’s official newspaper Juventud Rebelde published an article dealing with the state of Cuba’s produce and livestock markets. The author, journalist Rene Tamayo, appeared overjoyed at the deceleration of price trends and predicted a brighter future all around.

Merits and Challenges of Moving to the Countryside

I’ve been writing about the need and benefits of returning to the countryside for some years now, but, how persuasive could my arguments be if I didn’t preach by example? Luckily, I have friends in other parts of the world who have set out on this adventure…

Why Are We More Concerned About The Climate Than The Energy Crisis?

Statistics demonstrate what was already evident: the issue of environmental damage has significant media impact, while next to no one is worried about the energy crisis. The UN has several institutions devoted to the study of environmental problems but none dealing with the energy dilemma.

What I Would Have Liked to Hear the Pope Say in Cuba

Fixing a given problem by doing more of the same and doing so more intensely is retreating in a forward direction. In a finite and nearly exhausted world like ours, doing this is surest path to failure.

The Transformation of the Cuban Revolution

I would love to know when, how and why the metamorphosis took place. This is not idle, historical curiosity. At one point, we will have to go back to the time everything went wrong and try again, with or without a worldwide crisis.