Veronica Vega’s diary

Of Health and Hope in Cuba

I must confess I feel a profound aversion towards hospitals and polyclinics. This is not only because of the physical pain, misdiagnoses, indifference or mistreatment I have experienced in these, but also because of the association my mind invariably makes between these places and the time spent in waiting rooms.

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When Real Life No Longer Interests Us

The media have always dictated the fashions and had an influence on the tastes of young people. However, the question that arises for me at the moment is how much happiness can really be derived from consuming more and more materials that distort the dimensions of the real in order to be attractive. And when we return to the real world?

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Is Eliecer Avila Frustrated?

A while ago, someone I think highly of said to me: “Yeah, that student (Eliecer Avila) had the courage to ask those questions to (National Assembly President) Ricardo Alarcon, making the official look ridiculous, and the student himself even became a popular figure. But what did he achieve with all that? Today he can’t work in his field and all the doors are closed to him in this country.”

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Cuba: How to Recognize a Good Leader (II)

The dynamics that every revolution puts in practice are too complex to be predictable, but in more established groups of thought, the mechanisms of empowerment begin articulating automatically. This is a natural law.

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Cuba: How to Recognize a Good Leader (I)

Whenever I hear someone complain about how bad it is Cuba, if it’s one of those people who fought, convinced of what we have today (or about the promises blown away by the wind), I’ll note that in times of greatest political upheaval, many useful details go overlooked.

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Cuba: The Serious Issue of Machismo

A few days ago, the partner of a friend of mine started beating her up in the middle of the street here in Havana in the presence of several other people they knew. I wasn’t there at the time, but I learned that my husband was the only person who ran over to defend her.

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Cuba in the Era of Video Games

Seeing the wave of self-employed businesses in Havana, I am struck by the boom in video games. With eye-catching posters and flyers distributed throughout the city, they attract kids who rush off to ruin their sight on the flashing screens … and their parents by throwing their money away. (9 photos)

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So What Is Cuba Like?

Watching the movie Seven Days in Havana, with it seven stories by seven different directors (and with the list led by Benicio del Toro and concluded by Juan Carlos Tabio), serious questions arose in me as to whether Cuba is really like the way I see it and how I’ve experienced it.

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Sounds in Cuba: For the Love of the Ridiculous

A German guy who I barely know gave my son a priceless gift: the MP3 player that he’s dreamed of since high school. And since the object itself is exquisitely luxurious, and we Third Worlders are like greedy children, I’ve asked him on occasions to look at the world under the intoxicating effect of music.

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