Caridad, Author at Havana Times

Questions Upon My Return

“What are you coming back here to do in Cuba?” That was a question I was asked the night I arrived at Havana’s Jose Marti Airport after almost a year in Venezuela.

My neighborhood in Cojimar is about eight or ten blocks from the sea, that’s why I can’t speak about the sound of its waves, except on rare exceptions when bad weather causes the salt water to get inside the houses built closest to the water.

My Reunion with Havana

Leaving Caracas was not as joyous as I thought it would be; to say anything else wouldn’t be sincere. (20 photos)

“Gasolina” and the Blues

It’s easier to take him for crazy. To look at his Walt Whitman-style mane, with green leaves sometimes tangled in his white hair; the clothes he wears, as old as he is; the beard, which might remind some people of a confirmed Marxist, and his carefree gait through the streets of Caracas, with his four string guitar on his shoulder, inseparable; one might say, “Look, one more lunatic.”(9 photos)

New Year’s Away from Cuba

At this very moment I would be 15 times happier if I were able to be with my family and with my friends, and it wouldn’t matter if it were before or after December 31; what is important is being with them again. (20 photos)

Are you a Musulungo?

It’s probable that what I’m going to say won’t interest a ton of people. Maybe that’s because it has nothing to do with politics, which is the favorite topic of most people who thumb the digital pages of Havana Times.

Sakineh Ashtiani

The first thing that my caught my attention is that I can’t find her name on any website produced in Cuba. When the news media in my country speaks of Iran, they refer to some economic agreement or of the good relations between the two countries.

Killing for the Homeland

One of the ways we extol violence —us, regular people, those of us who don’t have the power to decide who we go to war with or not— is through our national anthems.

Bang Bang, You’re Dead

Like anyone who’s not accustomed to having such armaments so close, a light anxiety came over me. Whenever there exists an arm, there also exists the possibility of it being fired…of someone being injured.

Cuba’s Doctors in Venezuela

To travel around Venezuela and not run into a group of Cuban medical doctors is like going to Africa and not finding a lion, or at least not seeing the savanna.