Diaries Archives - Page 356 of 647

Cuba to Increase Wages for Doctors

A much-announced wage increase will reach the pockets of Cuban health professionals this coming January, sources that prefer to remain anonymous told HT. There had been talk of this for about a year.

Worse educación, more expensive gifts

Every 22nd of December, Cubans celebrate Teacher’s Day and commemorate the conclusion of the island’s 1961 Literacy Campaign. For many families in Cuba, this is a financially complicated date. Giving gifts to teachers has become a tradition which clearly delineates the gap that exists between the purchasing powers of different social sectors.

No to Silicone Implants: The Struggle for Individuality

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?

Fashion and Values in Cuba

Almost 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.

Havana’s “Problem-Filled” Film Festival

The 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.

Returning to Isla de La Juventud

Though 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…

My New, Old Home in Havana

I 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).

Cuban Rappers Stage Successful Protest

Following 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.

Mandela: A Multifaceted Symbol

Mandela 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.

My First “Cuban-Style” Lay-Off

As 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.