Diaries

No Appetite for Culture

It is both humorous and sad to see that many young Cuban university students have trouble taking in or developing an interest in culture. Their minds are elsewhere, they seem fed up with the world and they do not seem to care about history, literature, cinema or music.

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Ana Belen Montes’ Harsh Prison Conditions

Some weeks ago, I wrote and Havana Times published an article titled Ana Belen Montes: A Case of Conscience. In one of the paragraphs dealing with this heroic woman, who has been imprisoned under the most trying conditions one can imagine, I promised to broaden on the subject in a future post.

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Old Havana Park Re-Opened

On March 8, Havana’s Parque del Cristo (“Christ Park”) – whose name, apparently, is owed to the church that bounds with it, located between Bernaza and Villegas streets, Old Havana – was finally “liberated”. (11 photos)

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The More Immediate Country

In Cuba, where emigration has been a pressing issue for decades, people tend to think that the solution to the most serious problems is to be found in a passport, a visitor’s visa, or a raft. Death, however, is a country more immediate than any other…

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Havana Restaurants and Orisha Offerings

At lunch time, I walk around near my place of work in search of a coffee shop or restaurant where I can eat. Finding one isn’t always easy for, though there are many private and State establishments in Havana, I can’t always afford eating there and I have to like the place.

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The Cuban Dream of Living on One’s Own

Amanda is a 26-year-old woman from Guantanamo who lives with her parents, her grandparents, her older sister, her husband and her two-year-old child. She continues to dream of having her own place, where she can live with her husband and daughter, alone.

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Cuba: Obama and the Rabble

A strange kind of rebellion is taking place on the island. Vigorously and energetically, the life-style of low-income neighborhoods is imposing itself on the rest of society, and prisons appear to be the foundry where Cuban identities are forged today.

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Public Spaces

It’s nice to be invited to dine out, not to have to cook something at home and skirt all of the stress that this cursed task involves. That’s why I was happy to receive an invitation to eat out at a restaurant from some friends who had recently arrived from abroad.

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Life’s Many Surprises

As a physically challenged person, I’ve seen many things, and many haven’t been so good. If we add the time I’ve been a member of the Cuban Association for the Physically Impaired (ACLIFIM), dealing with people who, like myself, endure motor disabilities, addressing their social, material and even spiritual needs, we could say I’ve basically “seen it all.”

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