Haroldo Dilla

I am convinced that the one redeeming virtue of Cubans is our excellent sense of humor. Without it, we would quite frankly be unbearable, for our other face, our dark side, is marked by boundless narcissism.

Raul Castro is not likely to go down in history as a daring and innovative politician. He may in fact be remembered as one of the most fainthearted leaders ever to govern Cuba. The general and his retinue of octogenarian and fiftyish officials say they are making “slow but sure” progress, as though they had all of the time in the world to deliver the glass of milk promised every Cuban child, as though every delay didn’t have a huge impact on our society.

A few days ago, a group of five Cuban opposition activists appeared before the US Senate Foreign Relations to express their points of view regarding the normalization of relations between Cuba and the USA.

The re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States opens up a new chapter in the love-hate relationship the two countries have maintained for two centuries. It is the type of political move in which everybody wins, or so political analysts tell us.

One of the questions that most people ask me when they learn of my interest in Caribbean issues is the main cause behind Haiti’s economic backwardness. Our neighbor has become one of the world’s poorest countries, despite the well-known devotion, industriousness and zeal of its inhabitants.

Mexico’s terribly critical situation – corruption, impunity, de facto powers, a spiral of criminal activities perpetrated by government agencies, repression – speaks to us an economic and political model that has set its sights on the US market with excessive enthusiasm.

The book comprises an excellent historical analysis impelled by a frankly masterful narration, through which the author interweaves three stories: that of Trotsky’s exile, the Stalinist agents tasked with hunting him down and a common Cuban looking for a heart-rending truth.

I believe this step back – not only for the LGTB community, but for all of Cuban society as well – teaches us two things. The movement for the rights of different sexual orientations cannot continue to move forward in the shadow of the CENESEX, even if it considers this institution its ally. The second lesson has to do with Cuba’s rigid sectarianism.

A few days ago, singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez angered that very small part of Cuba’s population with access to the Internet. This happened when, following a concert held at a small town in Cuba’s eastern end, the musician was interviewed by an official government web-site.