Diaries Archives - Page 588 of 641

Like the Pyramids of Egypt

“In the Footsteps of Che Guevara” is an annual chess tournament held between different ministries and agencies of the State. We are now holding the competition for the second time.

Since Cuba’s television networks cut back on the production of telenovelas a good while back, the past few months they’ve been showing reruns of the popular police series “Día y Noche” (Day and Night.) In this series is a character known as “Tavo” (short for Octavio), who is a police agent with the mission of infiltrating the ranks of the murky Cuban underworld of the 1990s.

Interesting Event, Poor Attendance

The event was also called “Casa Tomada” (Occupied house), because for nearly a week all corners of the Casa de las Americas cultural institution were given over to conferences and expositions of artists from nearly all branches of the arts.

Hopes for Travel

Traveling is a constant in the thoughts of Cubans. I wonder if this is because of the prohibitions on traveling abroad (Cubans who wish to travel must obtain a letter of invitation from someone in the destination country; they cannot just apply for a visa and then go directly to the airport to buy a ticket).

Guesstimates for Cuba in 2010

A friend asked me for my New Year’s predictions for Cuba. I —who don’t include optimism among my strong points— consented to this with what I consider a sound presage.

Free Operations

“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?

The Same Mules for Everything

Everyone 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.

The Old Man and the Bread

Bread 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.

I’ll Probably Die Beforehand

Praiseworthy 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.

New Restaurant, Same Abuse

My 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.