Author: Isbel Diaz

On Wednesday, Cuban ecologist Ariel Ruiz Urquiola was sentenced to a year in prison during a summary trial which took place at Vinales Municipal Court, in the western province of Pinar del Rio, putting a key agro-ecological project and its future in jeopardy.

Early Monday morning, the group of eight teenagers and a minor, who had been arbitrarily arrested by Cuban police on Friday April 6th, were released. Threatened with heavy fines or jail, in the end they were given a Warning Letter that can be used against them in the future.

The latest repression against teenage Cuban punks took place on Friday, April 6, on Havana’s popular G Street. Such arbitrary actions of the police agents in Cuba resounds.

Losing your home or roof after a hurricane hits can be one of the most awful experiences you can ever have. Maybe protected by this sad reality, the Cuban government is taking the luxury of building the famous Venezuelan petrocasas (“oil houses” a kind of family house that is produced en masse), using the carcinogen PVC.

The effect of Hurricane Irma on the trees of our cities has been devastating, but perhaps the worst is the treatment given by people and institutions in charge of hygiene and the city order, ripping off the last green branch, discarding strong and healthy trees.

The new “State Plan to tackle Climate Change”, is trying to pick up on one of the most disastrous experiences of Communist(?) willpower in the 20th century: Hydraulic Resolve. The consequences for the flora, fauna and water table are numerous.

Once again, Cuban TV has brought up the subject of GM crops on its “Pasaje a lo Desconocido” show, where two experts on the subject, with opposite views, discussed the impact of this technology, which has been present in Cuba for some time now.

The Galerias Paseo shopping center, located in the Cuban capital, surprisingly hiked up the prices of the majority of its products, which I myself was able to confirm. It was done in secret and not even the salespeople were aware of it.

In preparation for International Workers Day in Cuba, the offensive from the official media has been the usual, overwhelming, full of empty, decontextualized, grandiose phrases that lack any substance. It bores and distresses.