The US Interests Section in Havana just denied me a visa to travel to that country, where I was invited by the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) to make a presentation at its upcoming congress in late May.
We’re so used to being the center of the universe here that I was surprised a few days ago when neither Cuba, nor the Cuban revolution, nor Fidel Castro were mentioned in a listing of Latin American leaders and revolutionary processes.
Regarding our confiscated magazines, through Resolution No. 92-2013, the Cuban customs office declared in its fifth “whereas” that “the penalty was correctly applied by the authority in charge in that it detected literature directed against the revolutionary process in Venezuela and its leader.”
By the way, could it be that among those interests is the right of citizens to receive diverse, plural, updated, national and international information? I don’t think so, because if that had been the case they wouldn’t have seized the newspapers. Maybe they think Granma daily is enough.
Typically, acts of censorship by officials of various ranks on the island are carried out with care taken not to leave evidence that can later be used for legal claims. Examples of this include numerous firings of members of independent collectives for what are always explained as administrative reasons.
It was a little strange for me to learn that one of Pink Floyd’s best albums — The Dark Side of the Moon — is marking its 40th anniversary this year. To me, this music seems like it reaches back ten centuries into the past and will be around for another ten centuries in the future.
After Pope Ratzinger announced his resignation, Mexican analyst Pedro Echeverria wondered — making good sense in my opinion — “What if they didn’t choose another pope, and the Vatican disappeared? Just think how much money and trouble that would save.”
Eugenio Martinez Gonzalez is blind and used to begging in the capital’s relatively expensive and elitist Obispo Street in Old Havana. Begging isn’t on the list of self-employed activities authorized by the Cuban government, so he’s always pestered by the police.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered Spiderman himself climbing up a wall in front of me. On Monday I found him scaling the symmetrical and imposing facade of the Habana Libre Hotel in Havana.
I want to talk about my first experience with buceando (“dumpster diving”), which is what we call the activity of searching through the garbage to salvage reusable items. The incident took place a few weeks ago just one block from the University of Havana.