Haroldo Dilla

In late April, the so-called first meeting of Cubans living in the US was held in Washington, suspiciously convened by the island’s Interests Section. This included the appearance of a deputy foreign minister who thanked them for their support and assured them that the US maintains its intention to overthrow what he called the “Cuban Revolution.”

Nationalism has always been the ace in the hole of Cuban political culture, which is logical: that’s the typical reaction of a small society facing immense external challenges. This has endured since the times of Spanish colonialism to the period of intervention by the United States, whose imperialist vocation for the island has always been a love-hate relationship.

“CAFE” is the acronym of a new Cuban-American organization. It stands for Cuban Americans for Engagement, a promising name that seems to indicate the will of their supporters to involve themselves in actions and policies in support of the Cuban community in the United States.

Without a doubt, the presence of Cuban doctors and paramedics in Haiti is something that has to be considered as positive. For many reasons, that country should be a preferred object of our foreign policy.

Under the current system, all Cubans, inside and outside, are compelled to conduct themselves “properly” if they want to leave and enter the country.

The visit by the Chilean student leader Camilla Vallejo (CV) to Cuba has been an opportunity to make mistakes that were well taken advantage of by everyone. It’s unfortunate that a woman as brave and as smart has been put in contact with a reality so reprehensible without her being able to raise her own criticisms.

I want a Cuba without discrimination or exclusionary vetoes; one without monopolies of posttraumatic accompaniments, because the country belongs to everyone and should be for the good of all.

For many years, the issue of poverty and marginalization was taboo in Cuban social sciences. It was a theme that was incompatible with the triumphant political line of a revolution that had supposedly eliminated — forever — the scourge of social exclusion.

The recent occupation of several Catholic church buildings by opposition groups — including one which a dozen protesters maintained in the capital for 48 hours — is putting on the table another sign of how politics in Cuba is beginning to be played.

Before leaving Havana’s outlying Alamar community on the Via Blanca Highway, there’s a roadway signpost indicating Matanzas as being 86 kilometers away and Varadero as being 186. I saw this in a photo that a friend sent me and I’m now using it to begin this article.