Irina Pino’s Diary

Life changes for all emigres, for better or worse. You can see this in a friend of mine, who has just come back to visit his family, just by looking at him, his transformation has been huge.

Lovers and friends come together to celebrate February 14th. They get presents ready, there are invitations in the air… but as I’m no longer in love, I don’t even worry, although sometimes I remember a relationship I had with a 17 year old boy when I was 24.

Now that the 2017 Cuba Book Fair has kicked off in Havana, people frequently talk about writers and their great egos, about their verbosity in front of a room full of people who only want to flatter them, to feed their self-regard.

While sitting in the Plaza de Armas one day waiting for my friend and Havana Times colleague, Veronica Vega, I heard a conversation between two foreigners, almost without wanting to…

Seemingly hurricane force winds lashed out yesterday afternoon in the La Puntilla neighborhood, in Miramar, Havana. The waves, several meters high, caused considerable flooding as the tide rose. The penetration of the sea covered Zero, 1st, B and C Streets. (7 photos)

Dawn broke in the La Puntilla neighborhood with the news of a murdered man. The body had been found thrown in the park on Cero (Zero) Street, in front of the Cuban Sports and Recreation Institute’s offices. A neighbor who was passing by saw it.

When a year comes to an end, I always do a mental summary of what it has given and taken away from me. This helps me to at least gain a bit of wisdom. A painful event last year was my father’s passing, but his spirit and image will always accompany me.

At the recently concluded 38th Havana Film Festival, the movie Neruda, from director Pablo Larrain, who gives us a black and white image of this poet and diplomat, really caught my attention.

A significant film at this 38th edition of the Havana Film Festival (which continues through Dec. 18.) is the movie “Ya no es antes” (It’s not like before) directed by Lester Hamlet. The Cuban filmmaker draws us into the intimate world of a couple, where love and immigration play a key role.

Gigantic, beautiful, commanding, this Christ can be seen from several points in Havana. It was sculpted by Jilma Madera, a Cuban artist who once said that her Christ wasn’t meant to be worshiped, but to remember him.