Diaries

The decline of a decent transport service

For a while now, “ruteros” (smaller buses which substitute taxis at a much lower price) have been running in the capital of our country. The population have embraced this service with open arms as they travel a longer route to different places in the city, take pressure off the urban transport system and come quite regularly.

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Cuban Government Fights another Unfair Battle against Artists

Even though I have written about the possible causes that led to a decree-law being written up which criminalizes art, and even though I have resisted forming part of an entertainment policy which has made Cubans travel along the tree’s branches instead of going directly to the trunk, I must write again about Law #349.

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A Jubilant Return to School Throughout Cuba

Cuba’s 2018-2019 academic year began on Monday September 3rd. I hadn’t thought about writing this article, as it’s the same or similar scenes can be seen all over the country every year, and I have never written about this because it is something natural in my eyes and something we have all assumed as an inherent part of our socialist society.

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Sanctions: Today’s Diplomacy

Diplomacy is a word that invokes the idea of good relations between countries, and even between people, in contrast to violence, threats and blackmail in order to get the other side to act in a certain way. In the old days, diplomacy didn’t exist. Everything was subject to the law of the jungle…

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Epidemics in My Old Neighborhood in Matanzas

I’ve been indebted to the December 2nd Neighborhood for a while now, which is located in Gelpi, Matanzas province. I arrived in this unfinished neighborhood when I was seven with my parents after a difficult experience which marked all of our lives forever.

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What Do We Cubans Really Have?

On August 9th, I stared at a summons from the Ministry of Interior on my fridge for my husband Yasser Castellanos, a visual and Hip-Hop artist as well as a Havana Times’ illustrator. Ever since we had joined the “Cuban Artists against Decree-Law 349” campaign, we guessed that this could imply “crossing the line”.

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Havana: An Unrequited Love Story

Havana was one of Spain’s conquests. The object of its greed and the battleground for the bloodiest of battles, where pirates made their mark, but also left their treasure. It will soon be 500 years old and it isn’t ready for the celebration…

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The “Curse” of a Number

The new law’s legal enforcement will impose fines that state wages can’t pay, punishments to keep violations in check, crimes of Cuban artistic talent. Unprincipled inspectors will whisper proposals into their victims’ ears to defer fines or the seizure of their equipment and/or other assets.

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