Over the years, the Havana Book Fair has become one of the most eagerly awaited events of this city. I don’t think there is any other cultural event where more people participate. So many people attend each day that finding the book you’re looking for can become something of a quest if it is one of the more popular ones.
Read MoreThe young girl that comes in next is a walking boutique. She’s dressed in the latest street fashion: A plunging neckline and a lightweight skirt, so thin that only a heroic feat maintains it in its precarious place just beneath the navel and sagging towards her pubis.
Read MoreI’m an Argentinean. I was born in a province called Tucuman, in the north of the country, but I grew up in Buenos Aires, the capital. When I was 17, I learned that there was a new project in Cuba that was giving out scholarships to study medicine.
Read MoreI have noticed considerable differences that exist between one hospital and another. How is it possible that in one there is sometimes only one inexperienced nurse for an entire ward of patients needing special care, while in the other there may be one nurse for each patient?
Read MoreIn 1973, when a coup d’etat overthrew the Allende government, many Chileans were forced to scatter throughout the world in search of a peaceful place to live. Our country opened its doors, and thousands of them arrived.
Something surprised me there: while the university classrooms are literally falling to pieces, these classrooms gleamed with new windows, nice paint and everything you need to make use of the latest audiovisual teaching techniques.
Read MoreI don’t think that it ever occurred to those who created the neighborhood family doctors’ offices that they would become excellent social gathering centers for residents who are bored at home or people who have few opportunities to be listened to.
Read MoreMy idea was that belonging to the Young Communist League (UJC) was nothing more than recognition for having done well on exams and participated in all of the activities sponsored by the school. Almost all of us felt flattered.Several days later, though, I asked the teacher not to include me in the entrance process.
Read MoreLiving surrounded by water makes people a little more unstable. Each person debates whether to stay in the place where they’re from or let themselves be carried off on the waters to other latitudes.
Read MoreAlexander’s story of coming to the Capital from another city to prostitute himself is not an isolated account. Neither is it atypical that Alexander does not consider himself a homosexual, despite his wide menu of bedroom offerings.
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