Features

Getting Glasses in Cuba

I am 55 years old and I’ve been using glasses ever since I was 30. It’s always been the same story for Cubans, getting your assigned time to get your eyesight checked at the polyclinic can take a good while. (6 photos)

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A Nicaragua Balance Sheet for 2016

On a national level, 2016 was a year marked by the reelection of Daniel Ortega via an electoral process with no credibility: the opposition excluded; no national or international electoral observation; and a high level of abstention. Internationally, Donald Trump brought new uncertainty as the president-elect of the USA.

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Why Stay in Cuba?

I’m sometimes under the impression that I will be responsible for turning off the Morro lighthouse in Havana Bay. However I have asked many others who like me have stayed: why do you stay?

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Is Privately-Run Business the Magical Answer for Cuba?

A group of friends walked past the corner on 23rd and G Streets in Havana. Alain stopped and looked at the poor state of what was once the busy Cafe G, the place of so many good memories during their university years, just a few years ago. “Do you realize… Now, if this were privately-run… it would pick itself right up off the ground.” I’ve heard this phrase several times, which summarizes the undisputed proof of before and after private individuals take over state-run businesses.

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Cuba Sports in 2016: Recovery and Concern

The year 2016 revealed the slow recovery made in Cuban sports, but it also revealed the country’s growing concern about the unstoppable escape of national talent which continues to undermine the chance of creating stability within the world’s sports elite.

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A Revolution in Today’s Managua, Nicaragua

On a short dead-end street in the Miguel Bonilla neighborhood in Managua, there’s a house with a distinctive trait: a huge rainbow flag waves in the entrance. It contrasts with the intense blue of the walls, one of them marked with letters announcing that you’ve arrived at La Rizoma, a cultural center founded by Gabriel Perez Setright.

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Nicaragua’s “State Policy” Against Freedom of the Press

Communications expert Alfonso Malespín and Azucena Castillo, director of the Radio Universidad station, share the conviction that freedom of the press is at risk in Nicaragua, due to a “State policy” of denying the independent media access to information, intimidating journalists and generating self-censorship.

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Food in Cuba: A Vicious Cycle

An analysis of the food market in our country reveals the continuity of high prices which tend to increase, taking the official average salary of consumers into account. Here is my attempt to explain the different markets that exist in Cuba for food.

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