Cuba: What Would Marx Have Thought?

Two teenagers were talking at a bus stop. With the habitual idioms that characterize the parlance of a good many Cubans these days, one of them was showing off his IPhone 5, saying to the other: “Bro, this thing’s off the chart. Look at the cell my old man got me, it’s smokin’.

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The Limits of Free Love

Not long ago, Havana Times blogger Irina Pino’s article on polyamorous relationships sparked off a debate at the site. Pino claims that one can never find the perfect partner and is bound to idealize him or her in accordance with one’s desires.

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My Afternoons in Cuba with Paco de Lucia

When I was fourteen, I got the crazy idea I wanted to learn to play the guitar. My parents didn’t have the money to buy me the instrument, so I decided to talk with Barbara, a friend of mine who lived in the building across the street and owned a Pablo Quintana guitar.

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Thanks to Violeta Parra

In 2010, Chile was shaken by a devastating earthquake that had fatal repercussions. In response to this tragedy, 9 musicians, a music producer and many other artists from around world got together to record a song.

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Long Live USB Drives in Cuba

We’re off to get this week’s TV show package! “Oh, the joy,” many of my neighbors exclaim. USB drives have proven immensely useful from the time we’ve been able to afford them, as a means of storing or exchanging information, documents and videos of every sort.

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The Advantages of a Multi-Party System

The co-existence of different political parties bound to express the people’s will through constitutional means is the most effective way towards progress in any nation – a practice which is entirely foreign to us Cubans.

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Abortion: Right or Alternative?

In a recent post, fellow Havana Times blogger Dariela Aquique comments on the thorny issue of abortion. The piece focuses more on the right to abort than on the responsibility of avoiding an unwanted pregnancy, which ought to be the guiding premise.

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