Jimmy Roque’s Diary

LGBT Rights in Cuba: Domestic Demagogy and Foreign Diplomacy

Cuba and Venezuela did not participate in the debate surrounding a resolution that protects individuals from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, held within the United Nations at the close of September.

Cuba’s Renowned Ice-Cream Parlor & its Notorious “Hollow Scoops”

Cuba’s official press and blogs have published several articles dealing with product thefts at Havana’s Coppelia ice-cream parlor. Specificially, there are reports of so-called “hollow scoops,” ice-cream that’s round and full on the outside but hollow on the inside.

Cuba: One Ration Booklet, Different Bread Rolls

Until some time ago, I thought everyone got the same daily bread roll in Havana. Then I discovered that I was wrong: the quality of the bread one gets depends on where one lives. This is not officially established, of course, but it happens this way in practice.

Cleaning Havana’s “Malecon” Sea Wall on 8/16

As many Cubans and foreigners gather along this coastal strip, especially the area between the US Interests Section and Old Havana’s Prado street, the water tends to be littered with garbage that are thrown onto the reef and sea. Here’s something you can do about it.

Havana’s Ocean Drive Protests: 20 Years Later

Twenty years have passed since Cuba’s maleconazo, the demonstrations that took place down Havana’s ocean drive on August 5, 1994 – in protest of the extreme economic crisis the Cuban people were enduring at the beginning of the 1990s as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Brazil’s Poor, the World Cup and TeleSUR

I am not against having TeleSUR broadcast the World Cup, but I believe it should try to tackle the problems this sporting event has caused Brazil’s poor in a more in-depth manner. That should be its priority, for it is an issue that affects it’s raison d’etre, the dispossessed.

Too Far to Be Heard: Varadero, the other Cuba

The 6th International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Intersexual Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGALAC) was held at Varadero’s expensive and luxurious resort in Cuba this year. I had the fortune and privilege of participating in the gathering as a member of Cuba’s Rainbow Project.

The Earth Trembles in Cuba

At the close of the recent congress of the Cuban Workers Federation (CTC) president Raul Castro asked Cuban workers to “shake the earth” on this year’s International Workers Day with a giant parade. As requested by the boss, the streets of the island shook on Thursday.

Repression in Cuba during Times of Peace and Transition

I first saw footage of an official act of reprisal (mitín de repudio) in Cuba in the Cuban film Memories of development. The footage showed a group of people beating up a person. The images were from the eighties, during the Mariel exodus. Seeing those images was painful.

Cuban Doctors Abroad: On Individual Responsibility

Having worked on a previous mission abroad (ideally in Venezuela) is one of the requirements that Cuban medical doctors in Brazil’s Mas Medicos (“More Doctors”) program must meet. As such, all Cuban doctors were perfectly aware of the “protective” restrictions that apply within such programs.