What Taking a Bus Means in Today’s Cuba
Like every week, last Sunday I went to visit Mom. Like every Sunday, the journey becomes a real adventure.
Diaries
After 15 Years I’m Asking Readers to Weigh-In on Our Future
As I mark off another anniversary, I feel it’s time to ask you, our readers, whether we are in fact providing you with an important service.
What Happened to Cuba’s Sugar?
For a long time now, “sugar” is one of the scarcest products in modern-day Cuba. It sounds ironic for this formerly leading global producer.
Another Anniversary of our Beloved Revolutionary Police
It was around 5:00 in the morning, an hour before dawn, and I was there, on the road six kilometers from my house. The problem wasn’t that…
Micro Construction Brigades in Cuba
Microbrigades emerged in the 1970s. As the name suggests, they were small groups of people aimed at addressing the country’s housing needs.
Christmas and New Year’s Celebrations in Cuba
At almost 40, I still remember those family gatherings. We never had Christmas trees or gifts under them, no chocolates, or delicacies.
Year-End Depression
I realize that it’s not that I am depressed, but that my island of joy, that same island of tobacco, rum, and guaracha, is depressed, sad…
Bidding Farewell to the Year 2023
Well, the year is coming to an end, and I haven’t finished writing any of the several books that I already have quite advanced.
Of Windows, Breads, and Christmas
The children of this island remain marked by fate, in Miami or in Havana, we are incomplete beings.
Negligent Mothers
This weekend, on a bus, I observed a mother with her five-year-old child. They were sitting in front of me, the little one, by the window…