Haroldo Dilla

The fact that many people earn very little while others earn a lot is not a question of gambling or bad luck, but the result of policies and practices encouraged under the system commanded by the general.

I’ve been reading all the mess generated by Cuban security operative Percy Alvarado. At first he accused everyone who crossed his path of being a pro-US puppet, and then he apologized for having slung mud with such energy at those who he wasn’t authorized to defame.

The announced immigration reform isn’t an issue that sails on the political vacuum, nor does it rest on altruistic considerations. Actually, the interest in emigration on the part of Cuba’s authorities is not based on any special sensitivity to the fate of their compatriots.

The report presented by Fidel Castro against small urban businesses constituted a gross manipulation of public opinion.There was nothing revolutionary about it; on the contrary, it was an essentially counterrevolutionary measure intended to eliminate the urban petty bourgeoisie.

I am not criticizing Padura for participating in the very restricted process of “dialogue, reflection, criticism and social presence” that the Catholic Church is organizing in the country. As I see it, it’s a process that attracts everyone – from the very best people to every type of opportunist.

Cubadebate has launched a direct attack against non-government Cuban bloggers with a series of accusations that are extremely dangerous in a country where there’s no such thing as public opinion, no independent press or even a moderately independent judiciary.

The Catholic Church wants to engage in politics, but modern politics isn’t a matter of catechisms. Let’s leave the saints out of this and speak clearly: the Catholic Church, as a political actor, has the right to trial and error, but it is also exposed to criticism.

In straightforward language, understandable by Muzhiks and Cossacks alike, Lenin noted that a revolutionary situation occurred when those above can no longer govern as before, and those below can no longer bear their government as before.

Hardly anyone speaks of socialism in Cuba, a better world or the laws of history blowing at the nation’s back – core arguments from when there were more Soviet flags in Havana Bay than in Red Square.

While LASA is only an academic point of reference for other governments in the region, for the Cubans it is an object of political attention.