We arranged a table and four chairs outside, sat down and distributed the “bones.” As we began, one player shouted, “You’re not going to win with what you got. Here you go!” slamming down his first domino in the middle of the table. “I think I’d better go look for a bottle of rum to give things a little ambiance,” he then added.
Read MoreI sat there thinking to myself: Young people have always been the same, with their virtues and defects, with passion and the ideals necessary to make societies advance, with their malleability that makes them conducive to change, and their inexperience that allows them to make understandable mistakes.
Read MoreWithin a society whose changes generate nostalgia for the past, there also exists discouragement among those who don’t see this as an act that will return our balance.
Read MoreI want to emphasize the fact concerning something that, to my understanding, has as much an impact as corruption: excessive power concentrated in the hands of our leaders.
Read MoreWhat worries me most in the case of Cuba is that the recently announced government proposal speaks in favor of small private companies and not those of collectives of workers forming cooperatives.
Read MoreLuxurious apartments built on W. 25th Avenue in Havana for high-ranking officers of the Cuban Army and the Ministry of the Interior (State Security) contrast sharply with housing units constructed barely a few miles away in the capital’s community of San Agustin.
Read MoreIt seems that I’m losing ground. Every day I lack a little more comprehension of the situation that surrounds me, and this worries me. Television and other media sources remind us that our leaders call for the people to express themselves, to discuss our nation’s problems and seek solutions. However, concrete practice contradicts those words.
Read MoreThese days, to descargar (to “let go”) is an attitude that is “modern,” voluntary and without mediating promises. After youths have fulfilled their “duty” of studying or their self-imposed “requirement” to “luchar el quilo” (hustle for a buck), nowadays they attempt to drown their boredom in music and alcohol, and easy sex.
Read MoreMy ten weeks in Cuba finally came to an end and I flew out of Havana two days ago. Since I had a stopover in Miami, I decided to stay for several days before heading home to New York. I traveled to Little Havana yesterday and spent the day exploring the neighborhood and talking to the people.
Read MoreThe government’s idea to sell building materials without a structural or a productive basis—isn’t working very well. In fact, I’ve always wondered: if they didn’t have materials yesterday, where do they hope to get them from today?
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