Many Cuban dissidents support Washington’s policy of economic pressure but avoid publicly expressing this within Cuba, where the majority condemns the so-called “U.S. blockade”. However, during a recent international tour, however, a number of them have spoken in favor of the embargo.
Read MoreCuba’s national media had already lost the confidence of many Cubans and run the risk of alienating the most left-leaning of the lot as well, which can now see the two sides of the coin in programs “above all ideological suspicion.”
Read MoreThe first time I ever spoke with Alfredo Guevara was after I had just arrived in Cuba, at the beginning of the 1990s. At the time, I was planning a television news piece on Fidel Castro and wanted to interview those who had been close to him at different points in his life. Cuba was experiencing frequent blackouts at the time and there was a power cut while we were riding the elevator up to his office at the film institute. Stuck between two floors, we were forced to crawl out through the section of door that seemed largest to us.
Read MoreIn 1925, Las Margaritas, the birthplace of Cuban singer Celia Cruz, was one of Havana’s poor black neighborhoods. Today, the children who live in this shantytown have free access to education and healthcare, but little of the deplorable living conditions that prevailed back then has changed, and its inhabitants are still, for the most part, of the same skin color.
Read MoreThey got rid of half of the bureaucrats, drastically cut down on administrative expenses, transformed dozens of government office facilities into homes and now plan to house in one building all the offices for the population’s legal procedures. These things alone suffice to make one consider the possibility of moving to Cuba’s province of Artemisa.
Read MoreFor the first time in a decade, the Cuban government authorized the foreign press access to several detention centers, allowing two busloads of journalists to visit four prisons. The authorities intend to show to the world the results of a less strict system in which half of the prisoners enjoy an “open system” that allows them to work beyond the bars and to visit their families.
Read MoreIn the middle of Beyonce’s dash across the city, runnning here and there, I got a phone call from Ulises Aquino, the director of the “Opera de la Calle” (Opera in the Street). He was informing me that they would be reopening their space because Beyonce had asked to see their show.
Read MoreThe film Fresa y Chocolate (“Strawberry and Chocolate”) is only 20 years old, yet it’s already a film classic, capable of touching the core of human souls, pitting individuals against their own prejudices. The impact of the film came out of the need of the country and of Cuban cinema to address an issue that had been taboo up until then.
Read MoreI read in the Cuban press that the island has already met the “Millennium Development Goals,” set by the UN with a target for 2015. I didn’t pay too much attention to the article; I figured it was more of the optimism that characterizes the official media here.
Read MoreA few days ago I went to Guanacabibes Peninsula, in the extreme west of the country. It’s an unspoiled nature reserve where one can see iguanas, deer, crocodiles and all kinds of birds – in addition to a wonderful seabed. Everything went fine until we wanted to participate in a diving excursion. We were denied access onto the yacht because among our group there were Cubans, who aren’t allowed to board.
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