Cubans grow up appreciating art, literature, films, music and shows because their parents appreciate them and are able to expose their children to them at an early age. These things have become elitist in the United States because only the wealthy can afford to enjoy them.
Read MoreA few days ago, my friend Ana Maria and I moved to an apartment near the Havana neighborhood of Vedado. For a long time we’ve had plans for living together. We had looked for the smallest apartment possible for the sake of paying the least amount of rent.
Read MoreHe changed jobs a lot, none met his expectations. There was only one thing what was constant. His brother who lives in California sent the family a video camera. This was his happiness. Cameras here cost a lot; so a person who doesn’t have family abroad or doesn’t travel cannot acquire one.
Read MoreCuba emerged as the country that has experienced the greatest recent renaissance in the entire world. In the 1990s, when the food crisis hit rock bottom, the massive sale of hamburgers in many cafeterias was touted as constituting a stable source of protein for the citizenry.
Read MoreThe nightmare of most Cuban university students approaches. It’s the annual potato harvest in 85-degree heat. Participation is mandatory for all faculties of the University of Havana, and for every other university institution for that matter.
Read MoreMe, just like most other honest people, are very vulnerable because the chain of swindling that has occurred in the last several years has reached astronomical proportions. This all started with the crisis that began in the early 1990s, when the economic situation was most critical.
Read MoreToday will be the first hearing in which I am appealing my expulsion from the university. When everything is concluded -for good or for bad- I’ll recount in detail everything that has happened. I haven’t done so yet because many of my friends think that I might bury myself deeper, and I believe that they’re partially right
Read MoreNot long ago, I wrote about the rebirth that was taking place in “El Electrico”, the community in which I live on the outlying south side of Havana. It is far enough away to be free of hustle, bustle and the pollution of the central city
Read MoreI heard a joke circulating among my Trotskyite friends. It goes, “What do two Trotskyites do on a deserted island? They found two Trotskyite parties!” I know that this thought tendency is not the one that prevails today among the global left.
Read MoreThe good and bad stories that I had heard about the island would later become real experiences for me. I can say that, by my standards at least, I was not so misinformed about Cuban life. Nonetheless, there was something that did not cease to surprise me.
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