Around six months ago, when Cuban writer Angel Santiesteban was imprisoned for the “crime” of openly expressing himself against the island’s government – on domestic abuse charges – the State’s repressive apparatus, bold as brass, organized a smear campaign against the author.
This past Saturday one of my dreams came true: I saw a live performance by renowned Cuban musician Paquito D’Rivera. And he began to settle a debt he had contracted with me more than twenty years ago, when I heard his music for the first time.
The type of missing person announcement you see here can be found at practically any bus stop or busy street in Quito. Friends from Cuba often ask me what has struck me the most about Ecuador so far. Well, there you go: its missing persons.
Following the conclusion of the 9th Congress of the Cuban Journalists Association (UPEC), all Cuban alternative media unanimously agree on one thing: the island’s official journalists will continue to act as faithful spokespeople of the regime.
I recall that, in 1998, I refused to sign up for what Cubans popularly refer to as the “bombo”, a lottery draw organized by the US Interests Section (USINT) in Havana to grant 20,000 Cubans permanent residence in the United States through a random selection process. I also recall mocking…
If someone had come to me three months ago (when I moved to Ecuador’s Amazon region) and told me I would get to see Venezuelan singer Oscar de Leon perform for free, I would probably not have believed them.
Would you be able to tell me who the president of a country like Norway, Finland, Holland, Sweden or Switzerland is? You’ll likely say no. I have another question for you: have you ever read any news about serious social problems in any of these countries?
“You will learn, but not too much” – this was the maxim that a number of martial arts masters in ancient China stuck to, fearing that, one day, their disciples could outdo them. It would appear that the Cuban government is founded on precisely that idea.
Some days ago, we saw a heated debate about the petition that a number of renowned Cuban dissidents have made to the US government, calling for hardline measures that would bring about the economic collapse of the country and thus definitively remove the Castro brothers from power.
In Ecuador, I have conversed with people of different nationalities who have never set foot in Cuba but who believe they know the island better than I do, people who constantly refute everything I tell them about the country, and everything I claim to have experienced there. To them, I am at best exaggerating things and, at worst, lying.