I recently paid the province of Mayabeque (formerly the eastern part of La Habana) a visit. I was invited to a meeting of writers at the Casa del Joven Creador (“Young Artist Community Center”) located in San Jose, the province’s head municipality.
Read MoreMargarita had always wanted to be a doctor and had been willing to practice anywhere in the world, even in Havana’s Calixto Garcia Hosptial, where she’s been working for several years now. “It’s like a relative one watches deteriorate slowly and progressively,” she told me.
Read MoreWith a view to securing a greater number of votes in favor of the new legislation, those responsible for organizing the debate surrounding Cuba’s Draft Labor Bill came up with a means of confusing the workers during the document’s review and discussion.
Read MoreA privately owned 3D theatre, housed by a locale in the commercial center located in Alamar’s Zone 6, stands out among the establishments where the largest investments have been made in the neighborhood. Not long before, the place had been a store that sold imported used clothing, a “rag-store”, as they are popularly known in Cuba.
Read More“How could anyone in Latin America not know El Chavo del Ocho (often shortened to El Chavo)”, an Ecuadorian friend asked me after talking to me about this Mexican sitcom a few days ago. I had never heard about this super-famous comedy program. I looked for it on YouTube and saw it for the first time.
Read MoreWhen I was a kid, my grandfather used to take me to the planetarium in the Sciences Museum inside Havana’s Capitolio building. I was excited about astronomy at the time, but I almost never got to enjoy or learn anything there. The problem was that we would coincide with groups of hyperactive brats brought from nearby schools on field trips.
Read MoreIn the post titled How Cubans Emigrate, I promised readers I would continue to discuss the migratory issue. Here, I will take an incident that made headlines around the world less than two months ago as my point of departure. I am referring to two accidents that caused many deaths near the Italian coastline.
Read MoreRecent announcements about Cuba’s imminent monetary unification do not afford us much information on the changes we can expect to see over time. The “psychological” message behind this is that we must forget, once and for all, of ever going back to the parity between the Cuban Peso and the US dollar.
Read MoreWhen a Cuban doesn’t know what a rissole is made out of, they say it’s a “hoonos rissole.” Whoever’s next to them then says: “Who knows what it’s got inside!” and everyone has a good laugh. In addition to the few ounces of ground soy-meat you get through your ration booklet every so often, sometimes they sell you a type of mincemeat (at market price) which is practically inedible.
Read MoreThough some refuse to acknowledge it, the positive results of the social transformations undertaken in Cuba following the triumph of the revolution in 1959 are plain to see and within everyone’s reach. Many aren’t aware of these changes because they take them for granted – over 70 percent of Cuba’s current population was born after the revolution and did not experience what came before.
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