I’m not a faithful follower of the popular Brazilian soap operas shown on Cuban TV. However, a character in the current soap, La Favorita, has inspired me to spend a few minutes watching that series at least once a week. I admire Ze Bob, a young journalist who constantly criticizes the corrupt legislator Romildo Rosa, and who doesn’t fear being beaten or murdered in the defense of his ideas.
Read MoreWhen I first began to write for this website, I published a diary entry about stray dogs. The problem of the abandonment of our loyal companions continues – so a question tormented me: loyal to whom? To be honest, I believed negligence was an incurable evil rooted deep inside many human beings. But a recent experience has given me a hope that once again lights up my days.
Read MoreIn my daycare center, and later in all my schools, all of the teachers were in one way or another fond of this same dictatorial method. This was the most effective way (they believed) for controlling brats, of which there were plenty in the classrooms of marginal neighborhoods like mine.
Read MoreThere are people like myself in Cuba today who struggle to eliminate racial prejudices. Some of them have begun to refer to themselves using a term that to my way of thinking, far from dignifying the struggle obstructs it.
Read MoreA video recently fell into my hands on the events that occurred about three months ago at ISA (the Superior Institute of Art). This came to me through means more efficient than Cuban television, which instead of being a medium of enlightenment can wind up being a medium of disinformation.
Read MoreBut what is most unsettling to people (the majority of whom are not vegetarians) has to do with children. For a long time, with more or less frequency, the State butcher shop provided each person —monthly— only five hot dogs, three-quarters of a pound of soya-burger and a pound of chicken.
Read MoreYears ago Rocío shocked the Cuban visual arts world with her exhibit “Machos Marineros, Marinos,” which exposed one of the paths of human desire: that experienced by sailors every time they confirm their loneliness on the high seas.
Read MoreHoward Zinn told us that neutrality, strictly speaking, doesn’t exist. There is always a point of view —about war, gender equality, civil rights and other matters— that impacts on the selection of events by every historian, as well as on the way they discuss and address these issues.
Read MoreAt ten in the morning, the pounding on our door resounded as if it were the owner himself. Thinking it was either some brash jerk or a family member, I was fuming when I went to opent the door. Standing on the other side was a seasoned nurse waiting impatiently.
Read MoreA strange new outlet has appeared on the corner of 23rd and 12th streets, in the Havana district of Vedado. I went up to the window and could witness that in this store they were selling —incredibly enough— products that we Cubans had only seen in “dollar stores” selling in CUCs.
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