Kabir Vega’s Diary

On April 10th, on one of the streets that crosses Reina Street, in Havana, I was surprised to find an old, well-dressed man with a folder in hand, lying on the ground.

With Cuba’s constitutional referendum drawing near, the Cuban government is suffocating the country with a YES campaign.
You can find “I VOTE YES” or “YES FOR DEMOCRACY” posters in public institutions, offices and the Police and Army barracks, schools, the TV, radio, even public transport or private businesses.

After a by-chance meeting at Havana’s Coppelia ice-cream parlor, I ran into a married couple of Protestants and had the opportunity to discover many nuances of intolerance. “We are in favor of original design,” the husband replied dryly when I asked him his opinion about legalizing same-sex marriage.

Cuba is a strange island, a country with a warped timeline, a dimension apart in this planet where the present is ten years away from us, in the future. A country where the capital is made up of buildings that are over 60 years old, many of which are in ruins, and last century’s cars drive along its streets, while technological progress is only thanks to the First World’s left-overs.

Prospering and getting rid of things standing in my way, these must have been the thoughts running through the person’s head as they kicked the cat (in the photo) out on the street. I found her on January 1st, a little removed from residential areas.

Young Cubans have a strange habit of flicking through those tempting “How to be a millionaire” books when they are about to emigrate or have just set up a business. Having lived all of their lives in Socialism’s low social class, their life ambitions quickly dwindle and they give up their reading.

This might not be the most pleasant read for those who were born and have grown up with the comforts of a capitalist society. I am going to talk about the movie “Minimalism: A Documentary about the Important Things.” Before watching this documentary, I had absolutely no idea that this movement existed…

A few days ago, I found out from some posts on Facebook that a very unique Cuban poet had passed away. Raul Sunet, who only lived to 36 years of age, as he gave up his life committing suicide for many reasons, leaving behind a lot of unknowns about why he wanted to stop breathing and feeling.

A few days ago, I was reading Havana Times when I came across an article on the home page that mentioned an episode of TV comedy show “Vivir del cuento” (Living by one’s wits). Even though I normally keep well away from Cuban TV, I had heard some good comments about that episode in particular, starring the popular Panfilo.

On the evening of October 23rd, after a month and a half of waiting, news finally came from ETECSA (Cuba’s state-owned telecommunications company) about my stolen credit in September. The response made me extremely angry but it didn’t surprise me.