These days, it seems as though Cuban janitors can conceive of no better time to get to their duties than when you come into work or, worse, during the busiest working hours.Today was one of those days when my arrival at a certain government office coincided with the janitor’s unavoidable maintenance duties.
Read MoreIn a couple week’s time, the streets and boulevards of Santiago de Cuba will once again become the stage of a colorful, popular festivity. Held every year from July 3 to 9, the province’s Festival of Fire celebrates Caribbean culture, and is one of the summer festivities that people here look forward to most intensely.
Read MoreI hadn’t seen a spectacle as ridiculous and sad as the now-concluded congress of Cuba’s Federation of University Students (FEU) in a long time. As I watched the young students speak their minds at the gathering (in the segments shown on TV, at least), I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Read MoreIn a country like Cuba, filled with busts of Jose Marti and all manner of portraits of Che Guevara, where one comes across many a plaster figure of Saint Lazarus and even of a Sioux native (the emblem of the Native American Commission of Cuban spiritists), these busts are a rare sight indeed.
Read MoreWould you be able to tell me who the president of a country like Norway, Finland, Holland, Sweden or Switzerland is? You’ll likely say no. I have another question for you: have you ever read any news about serious social problems in any of these countries?
Read MoreThey say truth is relative. At least, this is one of the maxims that people tend to defend the most, with good and bad intentions. I confirmed this impression after seeing images of the Russian pop-rock band t.A.T.u for the first time. I had heard the band’s most popular numbers some years back…
Read More“Kids, do any of you know what Cuba’s National Dance Music is?” asks Chispita the Clown while he clowns around. “Raeggeton!” the children reply in unison, convinced this is the right answer, making us burst out laughing. “Mom’s always playing it and I like it a lot!” one of the kids says, smiling.
Read MoreThe way I see it, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include the reduction of world hunger to half by 2015, continue to be too modest, for there is enough cultivable land in the world, and sufficient food is currently being grown, to be able to feed every human being on the planet.
Read MoreI couldn’t help but be amused by an article I came across under the title of Internet in Cuba: Good News and Bad News, where the young authors of the piece attempted to downplay the importance of certain developments – and exaggerate the significance of others – to suit their particular interests.
Read MoreTill recently, school and repression were for me synonymous. At least, this is how I felt about Cuba’s educational system, which devotes arduous efforts to inculcate distorted values in you from the time you enter pre-school urges you to follow in the footsteps of someone you don’t yet know from the first grade on and…
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