After 50 years of exclusively promoting amateur sports, the Cuban government has announced that the island’s athletes will now be entitled to compete in the professional leagues. The sports that have benefitted the most from this measure are baseball, boxing and volleyball, where Cuba has world-ranked players.
Read MoreThe children of émigrés spend their summer break in Cuba, Cuban-Spaniards travel back and forth between the island and Europe, flying next to people who sell cellular phones and computers, retired persons who “stretch” their pensions by living part of the time on the island.
Read MoreThe people living in Havana’s “La Granjita” shelter are housewives, pensioners, teachers, students, health professionals and translators. All of them live with their families in this former guest house and complain about the scant attention they get from the Housing Department.
Read MoreRecently, I made use of my Cuban medical insurance for the first time. The medical attention I received at the hospital was excellent: in a couple of hours, I was seen by a physician and two other specialists. The problem came up afterwards….
Read MoreSince my arrival in Cuba some two decades ago, I’ve been hearing people say that their leaders, after being dismissed for incompetence and the like, tend to fall, not from grace, but “to new heights”: it doesn’t matter how useless a “cadre” turns out to be, there will always be another management position open to them.
Read MoreCuban musician Roberto Carcasses’ recent declarations at a concert gave rise to a political tsunami. It is the only thing intellectual circles on the island seem to be talking about, as though they regarded the incident as something of primordial importance.
Read MoreThe upper echelons of Cuba’s Catholic Church made clear the limits of their alliance with Raul Castro’s government last Sunday when they demanded that the economic reforms that have been underway in the country since 2008 be accompanied by political change.
Read MoreI continue to be amazed at how, school year after school year, no Cuban child is denied an education, not even those who live in remote areas of the country, are very poor or have special learning needs. In our continent, this is nothing short of a miracle.
Read MorePrivate detectives, pet-care centers, pawnbrokers, tourist buses, opticians, travel agents, psychologists on call – these are some of the new businesses, started by Cuba’s self-employed that have now become as profitable as the more familiar private restaurants or lodgings.
Read MoreCuba’s system lacks the counterweights that different social sectors would need to apply pressure on the government in order to advance their interests, which are not necessarily the same as those of other sectors and do not form a harmonious whole, as Soviet manuals envisaged.
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