Diaries

A Cuban Argument over Emigration

Three blocks before getting to downtown’s Jose Marti Park, a student asked the driver: “How far are you going?” However the driver only responded with another question: “Where do you want to go?” “Well, I wanted to go north,” the young girl replied. “Baby, all of us want to go in that direction, but we can’t,” said the driver smiling.

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Oil Dependence and Cuba

Some progressive researchers warn of the possibility of a catastrophe, but it’s curious to see how those same people miss the boat when dealing with the issue in Cuba.

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The Mother of All Cubans

I was recently in Santiago de Cuba, a city that guards its histories and charms, as well as the immense warmth of its people and the climate that’s endured there.

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Our Daily Carbohydrates

When a Catalan friend visited the island, he told me that he didn’t understand why many Cubans complain so much about food shortages, because —as he put it— “You couldn’t find fatter people than here.”

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Freeing the Productive Forces (I)

Cuba is confronting a new situation of mass layoffs. It’s said that this will involve between a half million and one million redundant workers, mainly in administrative institutions and less-profitable companies.

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Calzadilla Retires

I began my conflicts with this man as an adolescent, the same time that I began forming my own identity, a process that turned out being more difficult than climbing the Himalayas.

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Living in Sancti Spiritus

In the town of Sancti Spiritus there exist many brickyards. These are factories where clay bricks are made. My sixteen-year-old cousin Yanner works in one of them. His mother says that if he doesn’t want to study, then he has to work.

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With the Innocence of a Child

My friend is right when she says that even in the most difficult moments of life, when sadness seems like it will dominate your spirit forever, there appears that instant of humor that allows you to measure your anguish.

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