This year’s May Day demonstration in Havana’s Revolution Square was led by a broad representation of health care workers, whose work abroad has turned into the principal source of income for the country.
Read MoreBaseball in Cuba seems doomed to fade into the background behind the overwhelming advance of the world’s number one sport: soccer, which is capturing the hearts of the island’s youth. To confirm this, all one has to do is go out on a Sunday afternoon to any neighborhood or small town.
Read MoreThe Cuban Catholic Church organized a discussion last weekend on the reintegration of the diaspora into Cuba. Those participating included a group of leading intellectuals in exile, scores of scholars from the island, as well as religious believers and lay people.
Read More“In Cuba there won’t be political reform.” It was surprising that this short statement by Vice President Marino Murillo was the one most published from his press conference held during the visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Cuba last month.
Read More“My name is Barbara Duenas. I’m one of the relatives of the former Cuban political prisoners who arrived in Spain in August 2010. I’m the ex-wife of Marcelo Cano, from the “Group of 75″ [imprisoned in 2003]. I live in Tarragona and I’m alone with my daughter. Since February 19, I haven’t received any assistance and I don’t know what to do.”
Read MoreAfter five decades of having to go to work on Good Friday, Cubans were given a holiday to go to church. However, the Mass held in the Havana Cathedral had fewer than 200 people and the bearing of the cross procession wasn’t enough to fill a city block of the faithful.
Read MoreLast week I first attended a discussion at the Felix Varela Cultural Center, an organization that operates under the auspices of the Cuban Catholic Church. Frankly, never in my two decades of living in Cuba had I seen such a variety of political views, at least not in the same room.
Read More“The guaguas (buses) are really bad. You can spend two hours waiting at a bus stop for a ride that only takes fifteen minutes,” explained medical student Roberto Diaz, while Jorge Avila added, “Plus, by the time they get to you, they’re already packed.”
Read MoreIn 1961, barely 12 years old, Carlos Saladrigas was sent alone to Miami because his parents wanted to “save him from communism.” Half a century later he is one of the most successful Cuban-American businesspeople. For much of his life in exile he was an anti-Castro hardliner, but he is now part of a group that aims to support the reform process underway on the island.
Read MoreThe second papal visit to Cuba ended with no surprises. Benedict left no doubt about what the Catholic Church is betting on: For “lack of time” he didn’t meet with the Ladies in White or other dissidents, yet he found space on his agenda to see Fidel Castro. Benedict’s homilies in Cuba were so general that they could have applied to anywhere in the world. If something was emphasized, it was the need to promote spirituality and for the Catholic Church to expand into new social settings.
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