Fidel Castro, the top advisor to the government of his brother Raul Castro, published today as the lead story in all official Cuban media, an open letter to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. In his message, Fidel praises the loyalty and discipline of the Venezuelan Armed Forces in these moments of tension with the United States.
Read MoreToday, I had something of a domestic dispute with an on-line acquaintance who asked me what I thought about my uncle Ernesto “Che” Guevara having been a “butcher.”
Read MoreAt the risk of being a nuisance, I’d like to repeat that the problem of high prices and low salaries in Cuba isn’t so hard to understand; rather, it can be clarified with a dab of basic political economy from the old boys: Adam Smith, Richard Wolff and Karl Marx, plus a little raw objectivity.
Read MoreAfter the triumph of the revolution, when Hilda Oates was a woman over thirty, she was able to enroll in an acting course. With much work and sacrifice, she would become one of the greats of the Cuban stage.
Read MoreThose who would protest that only regime change and full recognition of human rights in Cuba should precede any deal have surely had their arguments demolished. This month marks the 112th anniversary of the signing of the lease for the Guantánamo base between the Cuban and US governments. For at least half this period the base hasn’t been welcome in Cuba, and it’s high time the US worked out a timetable to hand the land back to the Cubans.
Read MoreCuban reality is slowly changing under the leadership of Raul Castro. Some people tend to deny this fact, obsessed as they are with downplaying the significance of events that contradict their perceptions, tastes or downright interests. The reforms and changes are there, and they are gradually giving shape to a society that is clearly different from the one that preceded it.
Read More“The annexation of Cuba is publicly and widely discussed here as an inevitable fact, as the outcome of what is referred to as ‘gravitation.’” – Spanish Consul in New York, December of 1867. Cover photo: www.american.edu
Read MoreThe book “Revolution, Socialism, Journalism: Cuba’s Press and Journalists Before the 21st Century” makes an important contribution to our understanding of Cuban history because it delves deeply into the “old problem of democracy, freedom and the role of the press.”
Read MoreNoam Chomsky welcomes President Obama’s decision to begin normalizing relations with Cuba, but cautions that after more than half a century of U.S. meddling in the island nation, it’s the minimum step he could take.
Read MoreI would love to look at those who would beat their chests and yell “socialism or death!” straight in the eye and question those who would deprive those of us who admired countries in the West for their freedom of expression, plurality and culture. What could they possibly tell us now? That Paris Hilton represents the exploited workers of the United States, that she is a shining beacon of progressive thought or an icon of the counter-culture vanguard?
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