These days I feel like I was living in Europe. I just bought one mango and half green at that, for the equivalent of US $2 at the market at B and 19th Streets in Vedado and street vendors in my neighborhood raised the price of a strand of onions to $8.
Cuba has been badly wounded by Hurricane Irma, which swept across the island’s entire northern coast, destroying homes, laying waste to harvests and tourism infrastructure, severely damaging the national energy system and killing 10 Cubans.
Cuban TV reported on Monday morning that ten people have died across the country resulting from Hurricane Irma’s destruction. The majority of these people reportedly died as a result of buildings collapsing and in some cases, for not having complied with evacuation orders that they received from Civil Defense troops.
Arnaldo Mirabal announced on social networks that he is quitting journalism. He does so a few days after being threatened with being taken to court for writing about a case of alleged corruption of a political leader in the province of Matanzas. Meanwhile, the provincial authorities throw a blanket of silence over this case.
Last year, I was destined to meet Hurricane Otto in Panama. The hurricane never entered Panamanian territory and it was tiny in comparison to the one heading towards Cuba this week, but it still left 9 people dead in that country alone. Fernando Ravsberg writes as Hurricane Irma moves through the Caribbean towards Cuba.
Could renewable energy be an effort of all? The energy situation in Cuba is uncertain. Venezuela, its main supplier of fuels, is reducing deliveries and may even close the tap completely, should the government be overthrown or lose the next election.
The TV comedy show “Vivir del cuento” dived right into poking fun at the National Assembly of People’s Power’s faults. This is the system that goes from neighborhood representatives to the 600 lawmakers in Cuba’s Parliament.
When Fidel Castro proclaimed that this model of socialism is of no use even for us, anyone would have thought that this would have been reason enough for his followers to start looking for another strain of Socialism that would serve the Cuban nation better.
The provincial newspaper 5 de Septiembre in Cienfuegos publishes a story about motor scooters secretly imported into the country. According to the newspaper article since August 1, the police forbade that these scooters, known as “motorinas”, circulate on the streets of Cienfuegos.
News that Cuba supposedly has a sonic weapon, unknown to the Pentagon, and that it had been used to make some US diplomats deaf, has become a joke on social media ever since the news became public last week.
