In pre-revolutionary Cuba, these functions were widely practiced and some attractive women changed their fates as a result of them. After 1959, these events gradually disappeared. The government eliminated what it called such remnants of bourgeoisie life.
Read MoreWhen I was teaching at Mantilla High School, I had to work side-by-side with a guy named Gonzalo, who was one of the few survivors of the massive teachers flight out of the field of education – not necessarily into tourism…but to anywhere.
Read More“Y, sin embargo”, the latest release by the Cuban cinema, isn’t a film directed specifically at children. Yet many of those who paid their two pesos at the box office were confused when they entered the theater having read that the cast included kids from the highly popular children’s theater group “La Colmenita.”
Read MoreWith a week to go before the conclusion of the regular season of the Cuban Baseball Leauge, two essential features have marked its course. The first and most striking has been the decline in batting averages, while the second has been the hard fought rivalries in each of the clashes that take place.
Read MoreI was walking through the always surprising streets of Havana’s Vedado district, where each block constitute its own micro-world environment with trees and shadows. While looking for a friend’s house, I came upon one of those mansions that were confiscated back in the 1960s and converted into the headquarters of some government institution or office.
Read MoreI just finished a workshop at the Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) titled “Sexual Rights as Human Rights.” The facilitator was Dr. Alberto Roque. It was good. I learned a few things, reorganized a few ideas that I had floating around, and on more than one occasion I felt like I had become literate.
Read MoreMy neighbor’s daughter, Rachel, has a tattoo near her ankle. Frankly, I had never noticed it before. I guess because my eyes always focused more on the silhouette of her body.
Read MoreJose Miguel Gomez was a soldier and a Liberal Party politician who was elected as Cuba’s second president, an office he held four years (1908 to 1912) until he resigned.
Read MoreYesterday, after showing up to put money in my cellphone line at one of the offices of ETECSA (Cuba’s phone company), I read a notice posted on the door. Two things caught my attention, or — better said — two things pissed me off.
Read MoreIn this state of chronic disinformation, perpetual news media manipulation and isolation in which the typical Cuban lives, if you want to break the informational blockade you have to become expert at decoding sources, while not despising any of them – no matter how disgusting they appear.
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