It was 10 at night and Havana’s Monte street was practically empty. Though there was still a fair bit of traffic on the street, I would see only the occasional passerby from my balcony. It was then that two children between 10 and 12 began yelling, calling a girl who lives in one of the neighboring buildings.
Read MoreHavana’s historic Morro Cabaña fortress was the stage of the Sixth Love-In for Peace and the Environment Festival, dedicated to women this year. It took place on November 15-16. The concerts went into the early morning hours. (23 photos)
Read More“Cuba is a multicultural and multiracial country,” said a journalist for Cuba’s midday news while reporting on an activity organized for an anniversary of Havana’s Arab Union. I’m glad someone’s finally realized that the concept of a “mixed race” is obsolete and dangerous.
Read MoreNext to no one is going to like this post, but I’ll take my chances. I am worried about the direction humanity is heading in. I am not referring to rising violence or corruption rates or to environmental damage. I say this on the basis of the ratings that a certain type of humor secures for foreign television series.
Read MoreDe tarde en casa (“Afternoon at Home”) is the name of a Cuban television program aired every Sunday at 5 in the afternoon and hosted by Rakel Mayedo. I’ve seen the program a couple of times and found it interesting every so often because of the guests invited on the show. But on this occasion I was totally bewildered.
Read MoreAt ten in the morning, I was returning from Vedado on a P-5 bus (which goes all the way down to the ocean drive in Old Havana). I got off and crossed the street, heading towards the Plaza de Armas. Suddenly, I hear two young men call me.
Read MoreLast year, I published a post condemning how the Population and Household Census then conducted in Cuba had crudely manipulated information in order to conceal the existence of homosexual couples living together in the country.
Read MoreMy friend Celestino was denied a happy childhood. Born in the Cuban countryside, his father had to support the family doing the only thing he knew how: working the land. He had to work someone else’s land, because he didn’t own any – that is to say, he sold his labor to someone who needed it. But jobs in the countryside were few and far between.
Read MoreHe doesn’t look like a former sailor. He is too big, he seems to have lost his gracefulness at sea, along with all of the hopes he had in his youth. Jose Manuel is now forty-two. He lives on Campanario (“Bellfry”) street, in Havana’s neighborhood of Centro Habana. Those bells, however, no longer toll for him. The only thing he thinks about is how to leave the city of his birth, how to escape his country, which he calls “hell”.
Read MoreA great many Cubans express concerns over the rise in misdemeanors, public vulgarity, vandalism and other phenomena associated with people or groups whose conduct suggests social exclusion. The media have also been showing much interest in delving into the causes of the problem and have set a broad campaign in motion to somehow contain this ill, which seems to be growing unchecked.
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