Armando Chaguaceda’s Diary

Several friends sent me the column about Cuba written by Anthony DePalma for The New York Times. It touched a thousand nerves.

Great crises put all of the above to the test. There are no predictable endings, terrible or bright.

Let’s be honest. With the global pandemic we have today, almost nobody knows anything for sure. But, we question everything…

Here’s where I intend to drink my morning coffee, after a short workout of walking two floors up to salute the astral king with the taste of the filtered beans.

Although I am quarantined in this picturesque Mexican community, I have never been so connected with my native Cuba.

Today the virus acquired a face. The daughter of a friend in Europe. Even though she’s a young person, strong and well taken care of, it makes me nervous.

What we’re living through has no parallel. It’s not a war where we know who and where an attack is coming from. Neither is it an earthquake…

With my paranoia under control and the news – and signs – of infection dangerously closing in on our area, we are getting ready to bunker down in quarantine.

“Come back – now!” mi esposa ordered over the phone with that mixture of reason and imperial authority, so much her own and so irresistible.

Recent protests in Ecuador refer to three analytical dimensions: a home-based genesis (the combination of historic legacy and political circumstances), a certain foreign influence (of Venezuelan governments and allies) in their development, and in the crossfire, an incalculable impact on democracy in the continent.