Diaries Archives - Page 24 of 625

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.

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.

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…

Microbrigades emerged in the 1970s. As the name suggests, they were small groups of people aimed at addressing the country’s housing needs.

At almost 40, I still remember those family gatherings. We never had Christmas trees or gifts under them, no chocolates, or delicacies.

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…

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.

The children of this island remain marked by fate, in Miami or in Havana, we are incomplete beings.

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…

Lots of people are planning a full-out party, but the truth is everything is hard, there isn’t enough food for us to plan a traditional meal.