Cuba has just been ranked among the 5 least corrupt countries in Latin America – behind only Uruguay, Chile, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica – on the basis of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) developed by the German NGO International Transparency. Despite this perception, the issue appears to worry Cubans.
Read More“The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Cuba on a black list, but the reason for this was strictly formal. It had to do with the fact that Cuba wasn’t part of any international institution that combats these crimes. Now, it’s no longer on the black list. It’s on a gray list, an intermediate state before the white list,” Alejandro Montes de Oca explains.
Read MoreDuring a Santeria festivity, a number of Cubans were debating about the consequences that the elimination of the two-currency system would have. One of them said to us: “I’m exchanging all of my savings for Cuban pesos, because that’s the currency they’re going to keep and the one that’s going to be revalued.”
Read MoreJenris Alvarez is a Cuban who’s lived in Spain with Ana Acevedo for years. Nineteen months ago, Jenris and Ana had Dailyn, a baby who, despite having been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, has one of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen. The child has been receiving medical treatment in Spain for a year.
Read MoreLet us begin to express our viewpoints about how we should debate without offending or excluding those who think differently. In theory, we all agree about the importance of freedom of expression. Some insist socialism guarantees the people’s participation and others claim that Western democracy is the only system that affords people this freedom. Well, let us begin to practice what we preach.
Read MoreThe news is going around the world: US President Barack Obama has realized that changes are taking place in Cuba and, in response to this, he wishes to “update” the country’s policy towards Havana, which practically hasn’t changed since the 60s.
Read MoreI don’t doubt Cuba’s Council of Ministers thoroughly evaluates its decisions before taking any concrete steps, but, sometimes, it does not clearly explain these decisions to the public. Many of us are still struggling to understand why the government thinks it necessary to “immediately” shut down 3D home theaters or computer game locales.
Read More“I’m on medical leave for three months. I’m being treated at my neighborhood’s mental health center,” a good friend of mine who has just gotten a divorce tells me. This immediately raised my curiosity and I managed to go into the facility with her. What I ran into was the interior of a gigantic, colonial house in Old Havana, recently restored by the Office of the Historian, where a group of psychiatrists, psychologists, medical doctors, occupational therapists and social workers endeavor to prevent and cure the mental illnesses of community members.
Read MoreAs a kid, I used to sympathize with two types of criminals: those who ripped off banks without violence and smugglers. I saw them as Robin Hoods that stole from the rich and powerful, that is to say, from bankers and the State. Though I maintained a degree of sympathy towards certain characters as I grew up, I learned that those who rob banks aren’t financiers committed to the redistribution of wealth and that smugglers aren’t entrepreneurs seeking to protect small, informal businesses.
Read MoreGranma, the Cuban Communist Party’s official newspaper, has published a note attacking the island’s educators who offer private lessons on the sider to make ends meet, revealing “a lack of professional ethics.”
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