The subject that succeeded in catching the focus of the group was a debate around the use of the words “state of terror” in describing Cuba. The question was whether it’s appropriate to use the “terror” in referring to people’s emotional state here and to explain their behavior.
“Blackie” is a dog that has made its home in the basement of the building where I live, in Alamar. The homeless dog found some tough guys to take care of her who have passed on to her their ways of violence and territorialism. So now Blackie has wound up being their guard mutt.
Havana’s Alamar neighborhood, like Babylon, lies between two rivers: the Cojimar and the Bacuranao. The fishermen of Cojimar, dairies whose cattle graze along the banks and various farms are all near the river, with each involved with products that end up on our plates. (15 photos)
Kabir is a young friend who is about to get kicked out of high school. He decided not to get his hair cut any more, but his school administrators won’t allow him to attend classes with long hair, a right only granted to female students.
This post is motivated by a recent article in which Samuel Farber says the single-party system is the main obstacle to the genuine democratization of Cuban society.
This post is preceded by one which addressed educational ideas expressed by Ernesto “Che” Guevara in his letter: “The New Man and Socialism in Cuba.” Here I discuss how Che understood the political relations between the leaders and those led in “socialist” Cuba; that same letter will serve as my guide.
At some point in my life, Che started becoming an increasingly unpleasant figure to me. I took the initiative to read some of his works, and when I did I realized that my dislike for him was no mere side-effect of our media bombardment.
Yesterday were our elections, and once again I decided not to exercise my right to vote. I don’t support the circus that has been staged to legitimize the regime. But neither did I sign the “Urgent Call for a Better and Possible Cuba.”
In almost all bakeries where they make bread rolls for our households, the clerks handle the “products” with the same grimy hands they use to count bills and coins. Even in times like these — with diarrheal epidemics and shortages of medicines — this practice continues.
The fate of Cuba is being played out in the Venezuelan elections on Sunday. I think the average Cuban (except those who know how to fish in troubled waters) has little to gain and much to lose from Venezuela’s vote.