I met Tonito when I was studying at the V. I. Lenin Pre-university High School of Exact Sciences. Not everyone there had such a noble soul or sharp brain. It was a pleasure to be around him. But Tonito had one “defect”: a kind of malice toward “socialism,” that’s to say he was against the regime of the island, which calls itself socialist. And this was in a school where to study there, by statute, one had to be “revolutionary.”
Read MoreSomeone who doesn’t live in Cuba and hears us say “damn it’s cold!” perhaps thinks, “Cold in Cuba? You don’t know what cold is.”
Read MoreA recent experience in south Havana made me think of several things. Firstly, the potential of people’s self-organization and the possibilities of institutions when they involve themselves with popular needs expressed “from below.”
Read MoreWhen I was little I would watch all the women in my family crowd around in my grandmother’s room, where they would open packages containing underwear, shoes, hair ornaments and those types of things.
Read MoreCold winds blew at the end of 1989, a particularly biting spell for Havana. The sensation of loneliness gripped us all…a sensation that would last —in the sense of its newness and depth— for at least three more years.
Read MoreIt’s clear that the 2010 Cuba International Book Fair was dedicated to Russia as both a tribute to historic Cuban-Russian relations and the current need for political ties.
Read MoreIn Latin America respect for institutions and the elimination of caudillo-ism are unresolved issues in our politics. Only by tackling these will be able to move from endemic corruption to the true rule of law, where respect for one’s fellow human being is the maxim of the countries of the region.
Read MoreThe prevalence of the rote learning method in Cuba also seems to remain for a certain reason.
Read MoreThis afternoon a rooster was brought into the Latin American Stadium. It wasn’t the first time that the fans came with a bird, but it was the first time —at least the first time that I know of— that they tied one by the legs and sent it sailing like a rock from a sling.
Read MoreAs people circulate around Havana with their umbrellas, I’m surprised to find they almost always hold them perpendicular to their bodies, meaning parallel to the ground.
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