Fifty years of unsuccessful attempts at re-structuring its public transportation into a system that works should suffice to make Cuba consider changing the very foundations of the system.
Read MoreRecently, I met with the Cuban dissidents who have set up camp outside of Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanding the resumption of financial subsidies which, in their view, the Spanish government is duty-bound to pay them for an indefinite period of time. They’ve also received the cold shoulder from Miami.
Read MoreMarino Murillo, architect of the island’s recent economic reforms, has urged the country to aim for growth by eliminating “all of the obstacles that the current economic model places in the way of the development of the productive forces.” The problem is that the greatest obstacle could be the model itself, which is based on relations of production that hinder the country’s economic development, slow down changes, interfere with reforms and bring about discontent among the population.
Read More“They want to change the script without consulting with us first,” a Cuban filmmaker tells me, referring to the restructuring of Cuba’s film industry, a process undertaken by a government commission and high officials of the Cuban Film Industry and Art Institute (ICAIC).
Read MoreContributing some US $5 billion to Cuba’s economy every year, the 40,000 Cuban health professionals currently offering medical services in 60 countries around the world have become the island’s chief source of revenues, well above the tourism sector, family remittances and the nickel industry.
Read MoreSome of the most important entrepreneurs who have been doing business in Cuba for decades have been summoned to courts on the island to respond to serious corporate corruption charges,the visible face of a much broader clean-up campaign undertaken by Cuban authorities. What is surprising about this is not that the government has taken on the campaign but that it has taken so long to investigate these crimes.
Read MoreNext month, 118 public Internet access points will open across Cuba. Though any step in the right direction should be applauded, it would be remiss not to gauge the real impact this measure will have on the island.
Read More“One of us was at a military base. He was divulging public information, he never had access to anything classified and never looked for it. His job was to compile as much publicly available information about the Cayo Hueso base as he could, because the base is a place where you can pick up signs of a possible terrorist attack against Cuba.”
Read MoreWhen I hear talk about bureaucracy, I inevitably call to mind a high Cuban Ministry of Agriculture official with whom I shared my concerns over the crops that had been lost as a result of the negligence of State entities responsible for their collection and distribution among the population.
Read MoreThe censors shot themselves in the foot, because the young bloggers decided to fight for their rights without foreign aid, using their own resources and securing the help of a number of Cuban bloggers, among whom they found a space to continue divulging their opinions.
Read More