Diaries Archives - Page 580 of 646

Many Cubans Turn to San Lazaro

When we have a health problem, many of us Cubans turn to the Gods so they’ll help cure whatever ails us. San Lazaro, for example, is one of those deities who are most called upon.

Independent Candidates without Platforms

I asked myself: Why aren’t we as voters able to find out how our future delegates propose to solve the problems of our neighborhoods? What do they think about the situation of the country and the paths to improving it? What do they intend to do in the municipal assemblies and the popular councils?

In Falcon I Saw the Stars

The most amusing thing was a pack of little donkeys we saw on the trip along the peninsula in the State of Falcon. Never before had I seen wild donkeys; they were both distrustful and lovers of the sea that greets the most arid territory I’ve ever visited.

Machismo vs. Humanity

Though over the last several years there have been major changes in terms of how homosexuals are treated in Cuba, still present are elements of the backward ancestral machismo that we have cultivated along the course of our history. This is visible in homes as well as in the street, as much among everyday people as in the offices of State institutions.

Viva Cuba Libre for Marti & Fernando

For those of us who suffer the “marble syndrome,” or who engage in the petrifaction of our heroes by transforming them into empty statues, we find ourselves face to face with a Marti who masturbates, who disregards the economic problems of his family, who lives off the charity of his good friends to pursue his dreams.

An Electric Charge that Revives Our Spirits

I only liked the country in the daytime. I liked to see how the farmers would plant crops and feed the animals. But what delighted me most was seeing the earth thanking the rain for its water, as I watched the drops trying to penetrate the cracks.

US Building a Wall along Its Australian Border?

A curious Cuban documentary is being passed around from hand to hand on USB memory sticks. Made by young people here, it consists of short interviews of people ranging from adolescents to middle-agers, a variety of people, with most of the film related to Cuban education.

Minor Surgery

In a tribe where there’s a shortage of water, anyone who possesses a bucket of that precious fluid will feel superior to the rest of the horde. Similarly, the owner of an air conditioning unit in Havana will have reasons to feel different from the rest of us. This is because here, anyone who possesses such an appliance will escape the severity of summer – at least at night.

The Dream of a Computer

When I heard the word “computer” for the first time, I was only six. Of course I didn’t know what it meant so I asked my mother, who told me that she wasn’t really sure either. However, she had heard that it was a device that “answers anything that someone asks it.”

Cuba’s Elections and the Filter

What this means is that prior to the secret balloting that will take place this Sunday April 25, there’s has been a filter: only those candidates will go on the ballot who received a majority (relative) expressed by a show of hands in an open vote.