Circles Robinson, Author at Havana Times

Cuba VP Calls for Dropping Passivity

Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo called on the island’s population to “think, create, alert, act and leave aside passivity and tolerance,” in a speech on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the schools of the ruling Communist Party. “It is necessary to strengthen the link with the masses, eliminate improvisation to be able to convince the workers, the youth and the people of the complex social and international reality we are living,” the official said.

Cuba’s Small Towns Face Cuts in Medical Services

The Cuban health authorities will lower the level of medical coverage in towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants, where the polyclinics will be turned into doctor’s offices, Minister of Public Health Roberto Morales announced. The government is making adjustments in the country’s health system to guarantee its efficiency and sustainability in the face of the economic crisis.

US Reiterates Demand Release of Agent Gross

The US government urged Cuba “to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. (Alan) Gross, who has been held all this time without any charges” against him, said US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley. Gross, who was arrested a year ago, is accused of espionage by the island’s authorities.

Cuba Municipalities & the Reforms

If what is involved is the advance toward more balanced territorial development through the formation of production and service linkages, then the formation of strong, transparent and participative municipalities is not an alternative that can discounted.

Cuba FM Explains Hot UN Vote

Gay rights advocates in Cuba received an unprecedented response from Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, in a meeting held at the ministry itself, after they complained about this country’s support in the United Nations for an amendment seen as a step backwards from the government’s position against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

I left Cuba in 1961, How can I go back to visit?

Anyone who travels to Cuba first needs a valid passport. In the case of a Cuban-born individual who lives in another country and has another passport, you need a Cuban passport to travel to Cuba as Cuban.

Rights Groups Fear Wikileaks Backlash

Some of the United States’ leading human rights organizations are concerned for the safety of human rights advocates in countries with repressive regimes, where disclosure by Wikileaks could put them in deadly harm.

A Delayed Response

I can’t say that I’ve seen any direct repercussions, but there has indeed been something insinuated: If the decision makers and experts in these areas have opted for this path, we can imagine that our timid hopes for the legal recognition of unions different from heterosexual ones are far from being realized.

By Way of an Excuse

I owe an excuse to the readers of Havana Times. First for the number of times that I’ve written about the issue of public transportation in Cuba, which I imagine is pretty boring to any outsider. Secondly, because every time I’ve written on the subject up until now, it’s been to complain…the ingrate that I am.

Cuba Dreams, Applause Is the Easy Part

Curiously, over the last several months, the positions of the small dissident movement, émigrés and the government concurred in pointing out that no reforms are taking place in the country, only adjustments to the model that has functioned in Cuba for 40 years.