Diaries

Opposition in Venezuela: Pots & Pans and Dead Chavistas

I’m in Venezuela, I have Venezuelan friends, my girlfriend is Venezuelan and I don’t want to see any of them beaten or killed. And of course I hope nothing happens to me either. I’m Cuban and while not on a government Mission, if the shit hits the fan nobody is going to ask me what I’m doing in Venezuela.

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Cuba’s Aponte: Absence and Vindication

The intersection of Havana’s Monte and Aponte streets was the stage of an extremely unusual incident: a highly mixed crowd of people, convened in this public space, sang the National Anthem and “vandalized” one of the walls of a building. But this story doesn’t start here. We must go some way back in history. (11 photos)

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Sancti Spiritus Is Not Havana

I left Sancti Spiritus when I was 17. Back then, Chinese buses had not yet invaded Cuba’s interprovincial roads, and a ticket to Havana cost a mere 23 pesos. (37 photos)

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Guillermo Rigondeaux: He Who Sleeps Last Sleeps Best

Ever since his debut as a professional boxer in 2008, I have followed every match fought by Cuban pugilist Guillermo Rigondeaux (“Rigo”, as his fans call him), keeping a close eye on his prodigious, almost dizzying rise in the field, admiring the talent and courage he invariably shows in each fight.

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Cuba: My Thoughts on a Close Call with Death

Who has not reflected on death at one point or another? Who has not picked up its ghastly scent in a dark corner of one’s existence? Who has not endured it, through the passing of a friend or a relative? Who has not longed for it, at least once? And who has not been gripped by fear, having felt its proximity?

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Cuba: Yoani Sanchez at the Round Table

As far as I know, Yoani Sánchez, the woman in question, has repeatedly called for the lifting of the blockade imposed on Cuba. I want to point out that I am not a follower of Sánchez’, or of any other blogger for that matter. I have only read two or three of her posts and they have struck me as accurate and sincere.

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Uncertainties after the Venezuelan Elections

Despite having tapped all of the symbolic capital bequeathed him by the recently deceased Hugo Chávez, mobilized the State’s immense apparatus and budget and having a partial Electoral Council, Nicolás Maduro was not elected, as he had predicted, with 10 million votes. In fact, he didn’t even manage to satisfy my prediction, that he would win by 7 percentage points.

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Today, I am an immigrant in the United States

I lived in Cuba until March 30, 2013. Today, I live with my father in the city of Miami. I have found compelling reasons to engage in political, grassroots activism in both Havana and Miami, though these cities are ninety miles apart.

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Experiencing an Election Campaign

Thursday was the end of the campaign for the Venezuelan presidential elections set for Sunday, April 14. The campaign should have been called a brawl, because the verbal sparring between the candidates on both the right and left was really raw.

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“My Vote’s for Maduro”

“I swear to you Chavez, my vote’s for Maduro!” With these words and other songs in support of Chavista candidate Nicolas Maduro, a red tide overflowed seven avenues in Caracas. If anyone still doubted the way the Venezuelan people support their interim president, they couldn’t have after having seen this massive march.

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