Osmel Ramirez

Now, overdrawn because of expenses and with low expectations of making a profit, dreaming instead about making up my initial investment, I am clearing the grassland so we can plant again. I can’t give up.

On September 9, the chief of European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, concluded her trip to Havana, where she co-chaired the second EU-Cuba Joint Council and reviewed the current situation of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between Cuba and the EU.

While the media and ministers of governments in other countries dedicate their time and space to issues such as the environment, duty on market products, taxes, or whether leaders are doing what they said they would on their political agenda, in Cuba, the trivial takes the spotlight.

As an encouraging sign of unity among Cubans in favor of democracy this media campaign is received online, where many people participate denouncing the existence of “regulated” (grounded) people in Cuba.

I’m from the countryside; the Guayabo community in the Mayari River valley. My neighborhood is named after one of its tributary streams, which creates the highest waterfall in Cuba when it comes down off the mountains. There is really good land here, among the most fertile in the country.

My eldest daughter, who is only ten years old, doesn’t really live with me, although she is with me quite often. Awfully enough for her, her mom and I divorced when she was just two years old.

You can feel the crisis in the air. In reality, it is a renewed “Special Period” crisis, which can still get a lot more intense. Market fridge-freezers and shelves are empty.

The months of July and August coincide with the vacations of a significant part of Cubans. It is the longest school break of the year, which is between one academic year and another, and many workers and non-essential workplaces plan their vacations to coincide with their children.

Saturday is the day you’re most likely to find food at markets where we live in Mayari, Holguin. It’s normal for vendors to save a bit on the side so they can sell it on this day.

The situation in Venezuela is becoming more and more critical. Chavistas grouped under the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) are no longer democrats (if they ever really were once, and I believe they were), and have instead become authoritarian socialists.