A friend of mine who left the country recently told me that, after he’d earned a lot of money, he would treat me to silicone breast implants. When he told me of this “great gift”, I burst out laughing. Then, I asked myself: why would I want breast implants? Don’t I have my own breasts?
Read MoreAlmost everyone likes to follow fashion. Fashion is constantly changing, recycling styles that were popular in the past or setting new trends. This diversity makes it easy for the fashion industry to lure people with very different tastes. In Cuba, we are not immune to these fluctuations.
Read MoreThe most common thing one hears young and not-so-young people say is that they prefer watching European films, because “they’re not in the mood to see so many social problems.” That’s a curious thing to say during the 35th Havana Film Festival, an opportunity to see the latest films made in the continent and, in the meantime, have a look at films from other parts of the world.
Read MoreThough I thought I’d gotten over the enthrallment that this island and its people invariably inspire in visitors, I couldn’t help but feel, again, as though I were in heaven, a place where poetry, music, love and friendship ruled the roost. For four straight days, I lived on the edge, almost without sleeping…
Read MoreI hear someone yell in the hallway: “We’re all working class here, the State can’t come along and tell me I can’t replace the window frame!” I make a mental note: class-conscious neighbors? Not possible. I continue to move back and forth with my belongings over the distance separating point A (a beat-up, green Moskvitch car) and point B (the door to my new apartment).
Read MoreFollowing a rather unexpected turn of events, the organizers of the Puños Arriba (“Raised Fists”) Hip Hop Concert secured a positive response from authorities after staging a protest in front of the Cuban Music Institute (ICM) at noon on December 10.
Read MoreMandela was a man and a symbol: an icon of the struggle against apartheid and injustice, but also a case study that shows us how “the apparatus” can subordinate even its most astute opponents to its own interests.
Read MoreAs some of you may know from reading the Havana Times, I have been laid off. This is not, however, my first experience of this nature. I would like to tell you how it is I lost my job the first time, at the beginning of 2011, when I worked as an optometrist at the Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital in Havana’s neighborhood of Marianao.
Read MoreWhen I got on the bus, I saw that the driver had his hand over the fare-box. Everyone who got on was paying him a peso. “Driver, I don’t have any change,” said a woman who had just boarded the bus, wrestling past a crowd of people.
Read MoreThe Cuban State appears to know no limits when it comes to strategies for milking the last penny out of those who visit the island. Even Havana’s sprawling Necropolis de Colon cemetery is used as a tourist trap. I became aware of this while trying to show it to a Latin American friend, a lover of Cuba and its revolution.
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