Cuba: Poetry Behind Bars
The saddest thing was seeing how they took Mario Castillo away in handcuffs. But then again, it was also the most beautiful: seeing the firm look on his face, with no hatred for those men who couldn’t understand.
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Diaries
Getting to Know Maite Vera
The director Kristina Konrad shows us Cuban soap opera writer Maite Vera in her everyday life: at the corner store, talking with neighbors in her building, on the set of a film, in the company of visiting friends and family members.
Read MoreServility in Cuba to Foreign Currency
How ironic it is for them to go around proclaiming here in Cuba: “Striving to achieve excellence in food service and customer attention!” This is one of the inventions you have to listen to daily in the iniquitous marketing attempts by our media to feign the friendly treatment and quality that people deserve.
Read MoreThey Don’t Have Any Pizazz
I ended up with nothing from my salary for these last days of the month. Actually, this is the norm for most salaried employees in Cuba. The same thing happened with partner, Eddy.
Read MoreDogs in Cuba
Humans exist in this world without actually being able to compete with the rest of nature. If not for the coats, umbrellas, metal tools and such, we’d hardly make it from one season to the next.
Read MoreCuba as a Biotechnology Island
The process carried out by Cuba’s Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology was riddled with violations that jeopardized the entire investigation. They even had to pay fines for not reporting to regulators about experiments on certain plots of land.
Read MoreThe End of Two Cuban Cats and a Few Rabbits
I was recently on my way to work walking along the streets of Old Havana, the ones between the Loma del Angel and Avenida del Puerto. On the pavement in front of me I spotted a small black cat laying into a ball, as cats often do when they sleep.
Read MoreJorge’s Home Building Blues
What Jorge doesn’t understand is why he was prevented from putting up a tent in the yard of the farmhouse where he lives. He stays there with the homeowners, who “adopted” him some time ago.
Read MoreCuba’s Bureaucracy Continues Unabated
I’m here at the bank where I’m unable to cash a check for 100 pesos ($5 USD), which I earned for the articles I’ve written. The cashier said the signature was invalid.
Read MoreA Close-up of Cuba’s Virgin of Charity
Recently I went to the Lawton neighborhood to visit my friend Clara. The taxi route dropped me just outside the house of this friend, who had been expecting me since early that afternoon.
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