The Old Custodian

You’d see him come into work with a tattered backpack, a stocky, dark-skinned man with a full head of gray hair. Almost immediately, a yellow dog would come running, merrily wagging its tail, and start playing with him. It would stay with him while he looked after the cars in the lot.

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Cuban Culture Fair at La Rampa, Havana

The music of Cuba’s renowned Van Van issues from Havana’s Pabellon Cuba and echoes across La Rampa, Vedado. This year, the Cuban Culture Fair pays tribute to the work of musician Juan Formell and visual artist Ivan Soca who exhibits a series of photographs titled Formellmania.(30 photos)

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Cuba’s Coal Merchants, Before and After

Recently, I have read news reporting that Cuba now exports thousands of tons of charcoal to Europe at a fairly good price (and that the demand for this product is growing in the old continent) with a mix of happiness and nostalgia.

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Cuba’s Colorless Yellow Pages

Of the Cuban companies currently at the forefront of the country’s transition to State capitalism, ETECSA (the island’s monopoly phone company) is among the most unpopular. ETECSA’s widespread unpopularity is not unwarranted.

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I Support Federalization (For Cuba As Well)

That whole business of “partisans of federalization” is a politically correct phrase used by Russia’s official media to refer to activists (some of whom have formed armed contingents) currently fighting the Kiev government in eastern Ukraine.

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Cuba’s New Labor Code: The Laments and the Feast

Last week, three declarations in Cuba made news almost simultaneously: the statements by singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, Cuban Vice-President Diaz Canel and the mastermind behind the country’s economic reforms, Marino Murillo. The three made mention of the conditions that the majority of Cubans live and work under.

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Distorted News About Cuba

To my surprise, I came across a piece of news in Havana Times that was originally published by DPA, an article dealing with the murder of four men at a farm near Baracoa beach, in the Cuban province of Artemisa. The facts presented are completely distorted…

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Things to Do in Bayamo, Cuba

All the people I told I would be visiting Bayamo, Granma agreed I would like the city. Bayamo’s main boulevard has many charms, boasting an enviable cleanliness, and the place is home to a broad variety of commercial and cultural establishments. (11 photos)

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