There is a permanent “state of emergency” style of leadership in Cuba that stands in the way of Cubans participation in the legislative process. Our Parliament only meets twice a year, a few days in July, another few days in December…
Read MoreThere were no surprises in the November 5th municipal elections in Nicaragua. Just as in last year’s Presidential election, the official polling places shone empty due to the massive abstention, even as the Supreme Electoral Council took great pains to declare another record level of participation, manipulating at whim the data regarding the voter roles.
Read MoreThis November, Cartas desde Cuba (Letters from Cuba) is celebrating its 10th anniversary of existence.
Read MoreEvery human living on this planet knows that education is free in Cuba. And I know because I heard the Undefeated Comandante say it 272,397 times if I didn’t count them wrong, and I shouldn’t have because my education was free.
Read MoreOn our return from attending a global youth event in Sochi, Russia my two Grenadian colleagues and I decided to peruse Old Havana where our hostel was located. Separated from our delegation and depressed over our misplaced luggage, I thought it best we have an adventure in case our sanity decided to take one first.
Read MoreIt was Friday afternoon. My three children, aged 2, 8 and 9 years old, were playing in the living room. Somebody knocked on the door and interrupted my quiet siesta next to my wife. Four cars were outside my house and a dozen counterintelligence and crime agents and policemen too. One of these vehicles was an ambulance, expecting my sick mother’s possible heart attack. Luckily, that didn’t happen in spite of her grief.
Read MoreRecently, a friend from Bar Rosi, a regular customer, suffered a heart attack, the third one in his 60 years, and he is still at the Freyre de Andrade hospital in Central Havana, which people call the Emergency Hospital. Not very common in these times of great insenstivity, his companions at Bar Rosi organized a collection for him, buying natural juices for the sick man.
Read MoreThe reasons for the abstention, and for which it will be ever more difficult to mobilize the population to participate in these civic campaigns, aren’t on account of the opposition leaders but are directly attributable to President Ortega and Vice President Murillo.
Read MoreI don’t know if living by day by day is a trait of the Cuban people or whether it’s another result of the sociological experiment that has been carried out on our people, but this conversation with my barber (which I’ve transcribed word for word) has left me thinking about the Cuban people’s apparent lack of concern for the future.
Read MoreI’ve been physically assaulted twice. Both times I was walking home alone at night. And both times I was compromising my safety. In the first instance, circa 1993 in Monterey, California, I was drunk. In the second instance, I had earbuds in, music blasting, as I walked down Calle 23 in Havana.
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