Diaries Archives - Page 398 of 647

A moon, a voice and a bridge

If you dig a tunnel through the earth you may find yourself not in China but on your own rooftop, even though it’s no longer thatched, but prefabricated and covered with solar panels

Watching the movie Seven Days in Havana, with it seven stories by seven different directors (and with the list led by Benicio del Toro and concluded by Juan Carlos Tabio), serious questions arose in me as to whether Cuba is really like the way I see it and how I’ve experienced it.

The Lesson from the Pope

The Pope’s resigning came as a shock, especially since it’s been more than five centuries that something like this has happened. The end of a Pope’s reign is usually decided by their death, though this isn’t law. These individuals have every right to make this decision, and I would go so far as to argue that it’s their duty.

The Achilles Heel of Populist Governments

Populist social revolutions have as an inevitable feature, an excess of enthusiasm seasoned with a ridiculous chauvinism. The indignant masses cease to be citizens belonging to a party or a government; they adopt the epithets of their leaders.

Of Exiles and Bulldozers

In my previous post I talked about smear campaigns and “acts of repudiation” orchestrated from Havana against critics of the Cuban “establishment.” However, there also exists a sector of the exile community — trapped by their anti-communist hatred — that magnifies their grudge and suspicion.

The Cafeteria at 23rd and F in Havana

“Doña Laura” is a privately-owned cafe that’s very successful right now. It’s located on F Street, between 21st and 23rd streets, in Havana’s downtown Vedado district. Its dishes consist of acceptable quantities of reasonably priced and well-seasoned Creole food.

Cholera in Cuba: From Kathmandu to Havana

I’m going to try to recover some of that insight we might have skipped over in those first few weeks by offering a broader perspective and some more personal stories to what happened when Cholera returned to La Havana.

The Dark Side of the Moon

It was a little strange for me to learn that one of Pink Floyd’s best albums — The Dark Side of the Moon — is marking its 40th anniversary this year. To me, this music seems like it reaches back ten centuries into the past and will be around for another ten centuries in the future.

Respect What We Eat

If I were to tell you — my friend — that we Cubans are pigs and chickens, would you be offended and get upset? You probably would. Or maybe not. You might think “chicken” is a fitting adjective for those who’ve endured a half century without raising their voices, and the term “swinish” could come in handy when describing the hygiene of our cities.

Repudiation Across Borders (Part I)

Whether their targets are dissident bloggers or socialist intellectuals, such behavior has a similar undertone: personal, moral and civic lynching. They amass what seems to be a perverse innovation of Cuban political culture: the internationalization of acts of repudiation.