The issue of the US dollar – the legislation that surrounds it, its exchange mechanisms and people’s access to it – is one of the things about the Venezuelan economy I find most curious. Another thing that caught my attention is the country’s low levels of agricultural and industrial production, as well the apparently abundant opportunities to open up small businesses without having to pay a cent to the State for licenses.
Read MoreThe Bucanero beer had been adulterated. It had no foam, tasted bad and gave my friend a strong headache. I don’t think we’ll be buying anything at the kiosk at the intersection of 23 and G in Havana anymore, what with the lousy service we got and the general lack of cleanliness there.
Read MoreThe work of the late Cuban-born musician, conductor and composer Isidro Benitez is better known in South America than in Cuba, whence the artist was forced to emigrate, in 1926, owing to the widespread and deeply-rooted racism of the time. As a black man, Benitez was denied the possibility of performing in venues that should have welcomed an artist of his stature.
Read MoreMiami-Dade County is the per-capita and monetary leader of Medicare fraud in the United States. Not surprisingly, given the geography, there are more than a few Cuban-Americans getting in on the action. I am also sort of responsible. Unlike the perpetrators that make the news, I have not…
Read MoreThe issuing of the pastoral letter titled “Love Bears All” and the recent missive written by Cuba’s Catholic Bishops Conference, titled “Hope Does Not Disappoint”, are separated by exactly twenty years.
Read MoreWith or without a new Press Law, Cuba must urgently do away with all forms of journalism that are explicitly propagandist in nature. The spaces occupied by censorship and self-censorship today must begin to be occupied by criticism and incisive questioning. Cuba needs a press that is not bound by the rules of the Party-State.
Read MoreAccording to official discourse, we are a poor, blockaded country with few resources, and are unable to build all of the houses the people need. That said, our country is also just: we refuse to have a society where a few have a lot and the majority has nothing. A good part of this is a lie and I am going to prove it.
Read MoreA while ago, I watched some television at the home of a friend who has a satellite dish. Though I already had some sense of what American television was like, I was surprised by the dizzying and irrational pace of the programming. In the middle of a TV series, I was bombarded with three commercials.
Read MoreI don’t recall the last time I attended a play that inspired me to write a review as much as Goldfish. I saw this highly moving play, co-authored by playwrights William Ruiz and Alejandro Arango, at Havana’s Trianon theatre, skillfully staged by the El Ingenio and De la Luna theatre companies.
Read MoreIn a previous post, I wrote that an economy that grows by a certain, steady percentage over time is experiencing exponential growth. I feel this issue deserves some additional lines, because no one seems to know exactly what this means or what its consequences are. Even the mathematicians seem a bit confused on this issue.
Read More