Diaries

I Too Am for ‘Another Cuba’

A few days ago I learned about the incipient group “Sociedad Civil Cubana” (Cuban Civil Society) having submitted a manifesto to the People’s National Assembly under the title “Citizens’ Demand for Another Cuba.”

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The Mother Who Rents Her Daughter

Near my house there’s a woman who rents her eight-month-old daughter to people willing to pay in order to prevent them from having to stand in lines. Both sides — the mother and the customers — are acting in ways that are eroding the little bit of courtesy that still remains among people in Cuba.

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A Cuban Worker

She walked in front of me and I immediately fixed my eyes on her. She walked determined, but exhausted, while on her back she carried a large sack, though at first I couldn’t tell what it was.

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My Brother’s Shoes and Mine

My younger brother has worked as a technician for the phone company for two years. His salary is nearly three times as much as mine, and it includes incentive pay in national currency as well as in convertible pesos (hard currency).

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Havana and a Piece of Paradise

If people in Havana were aware that a piece of paradise (free and beautiful), suspended six feet above the ground — was right here, close by, before your eyes, along the Malecon seawall itself — the lines would be hellish.

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A Toast to a ‘Crazy’

I spent the day with a nagging sense of emptiness, as if I were falling. What happened was that last night they stabbed and killed a ‘madman’. For starters, he wasn’t really crazy, he just didn’t think straight.

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The Fate of Paper

Here in Cuba, if any extenuating circumstance provides some measure of relief against the waning of desire, the fatigue caused by the sun or an environment that exudes abandonment, it’s the conversations one hears involuntarily.

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The Death of the Blog

Blogs — this one, or any other one — bark into cyberspace.One can go with their laptop to a rare place in Havana where they can catch a WiFi signal. For example, Karl Marx Park, where we protested against capitalism.

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Cuban Doctors Aren’t the Same Anymore

This wasn’t the first time that Virgen talked to me about when she visited Cuba. About 12 years ago she went to my country accompanying her sister who was receiving medical treatment .But it wasn’t only in Havana where Virgen first befriended Cuban doctors. (10 photos)

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