“Around the world, the pharmaceutical industry is a profit-making business. In Cuba, however, it is responsible for the health and well-being of people, sparing no expense,” said a television reporter, as hyper-sanitized lab technicians sorted piles of pills in the background. But since when is people’s health ensured with pills?
Read MoreEveryone in Cuba must be a member of a number of the mass organizations. Although most are “voluntary,” this is only window dressing, because rejecting participation or membership in one or several of these organizations means declaring oneself to be tacitly against the revolutionary process.
Read MoreBread is a recurrent theme in Cuba -as I imagine it is in the rest of the world- since the price of this product is used as a measuring stick for estimating other food costs. On our island, bread has been controversial in many senses: the quantity, the quality and its size.
Read MorePraiseworthy actions have been taken since then to protect homosexuals and to promote a healthier sexual mentality. To continue and consolidate this work, I proposed that a program be created to compensate the victims of that homophobic terror of the past.
Read MoreMy friend Jorge invited me to lunch at a restaurant; it opened recently near where we work. He said it was supposed to be pretty good and fairly inexpensive.
Read MoreAnyone strolling down a Cuban street around this time of year will see many homes and some businesses displaying Christmas trees. Since Cuba doesn’t have native firs, all of these evergreens are artificial.
Read MoreTo my surprise, I can now count on an enthusiastic gang of kids who hound me to take them to work on the “park.” Though these youngsters each measure less than four feet, they work hard for their age and without anyone forcing them. They cut the grass, water the plants and, in short, have appropriated this project without a great deal effort or any arm-twisting.
Read MoreOmar got a job at the French embassy, but since he didn’t have anywhere to live, he deprived himself of everything humanly possible to gradually build his own house. He accomplished this feat after six years.
Read MoreNot long ago on my job, we drew little pieces of paper with the names of people in our department. Each woman selected a man, and each man a woman, to be their “secret friend,” with the rule being that no one could tell who they selected.
Read MoreAt my job, they’ve created an activity by that name to encourage young people to interact. Its aim is to inculcate ethical and aesthetic values, and to create a closer relationship between the participants and the world of books. It also seeks to develop a sort of reconciliation between the managers -whose prestige is fairly deteriorated.
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