Author: Veronica Fernadez

This simple situation I just faced is one of the many things here that don’t make any sense or logic but that we Cubans constantly encounter.

Why not just hold carnival even if it’s every five years, but one that’s respected and that at least resembles the true carnival of Havana that many knew and that was among the best in the Americas and the world?

Yesterday I received a call from my friend Harry. After greeting me affectionately, he insisted on meeting me at the time and place of my choosing. I could tell that he was anxious to tell me something important.

We met each other while students at the University of Havana. In that period, the Federation University Students (FEU) held activities every night and participation was mandatory.

Here in the town of Cojimar (a neighborhood located to the east of Havana Bay), for more than thirty years people have celebrated the annual Ernest Hemingway Needle Fishing Tournament as a deserved homage to the famous US writer who enjoyed his favorite type of fishing in this area of Cuba.

Made up of young people and adults who are paid at the same rate as any professional, though a higher education is not required, this small army begins its mission by falling into formation in the middle of the street and later they’re deployed throughout the whole area.

I know that Cuba has to demonstrate to the world the popular support for the revolution in this battle to update our social-economic model, but it’s also necessary to think rationally.

Everyone seems to agree that every time they go to buy something in one of stores that only accept hard currency CUCs (freely convertible Cuban currency), the employees always tell them that they don’t have bags on hand to bag their purchases.

She said that if she were to wait for the Ministry of Public Health to give her the supplies she needed to care for the public, she’d never work.

It is an invasion of the capital, despite having poorly paved streets full of potholes, buildings falling down with the passage of time and the lack of maintenance. Yet many of these people yearn to be able to come here.