Diaries Archives - Page 141 of 642

The Different Faces of Cuba’s Crisis

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.

A Cuban Girl’s Difficult Decisions

Dori is 23 years old. She has just graduated from university and it would seem that a bright future awaits her in a country, where being a professional was a safeguard for having a decent life many years ago.

Are Values Really Missing in Cuba?

Delays, impatience and even violence are protagonists in any situation Cubans find themselves in nowadays. It’s understandable given the number of people who congregate, for example, at Havana’s bus stops.

Chronicle of a Trip to Matanzas, Cuba, Police Bribes Included…

When my mother called to tell me my 79-year-old father had a kidney infection, pneumonia and high blood sugar levels as a result of his diabetes, I headed straight for Matanzas. My father arrived at Matanzas’ Military Hospital with all of these symptoms and they didn’t admit him, saying they didn’t have any beds.

Spirituality vs. Religion

A few days ago, I read online that the World Health Organization (WHO) was on the verge of adding religious fanaticism to its list of mental illnesses. I stand by this decision 100%…

The Poems of My Colleague Irina Pino

There are books that always stay in the same place when you bring them home. However, there are other books which are always in different spots, as if they move by themselves. De los escalones para abajo, Irina Pino’s book of poems, is one of these books.

Being a Woman and Mother in Cuba Means Sacrifice

In Cuba, the first game girls play is “happy homes” which involves filling toy pots and pans with rice and beans so we can play at cooking them while we look after dolls as if they were our own children. If we have brothers, then we protect and pamper them, as if they were our own children, washing their clothes and even making their meals.

The Cuban Revolution and Time

I recently read a headline in which General Ulises Rosales del Toro complained: “When we owned the news.” While many people were laughing, this phrase scared me out of my wits. Saying this meant he was publicly accepting his guilt. Confessing, but without this leading to anything either.

Another Dianelis Breaks Free in Cuba

Several days ago Irina Echarry wrote a post related to gender violence, specifically about the denunciation made by Dianelis Alfonso -known as La Diosa de Cuba-, and the way in which that case had impacted on Cuban society, which, as Irina rightly says, is a country accustomed to defending and justifying the abuser and offending the victim.

Cuba’s Abundant Land and Food Shortages

Cuba is an underdeveloped or developing country, whatever one wants to call it. It is not a country that has large industries, it depends on revenue from tourism, tobacco, rum and sugar. And that it is not enough to cover our needs and resolve our problems.