Opinion Archives - Page 332 of 503

Cuba: Natural Born Leaders or Professional Cadres?

Watching the congresses held by different Cuban grassroots organizations made me recall an experience I had at Havana’s Lenin Vocational School. It had to do with leadership, natural born leaders and those leaders appointed on the basis of single lists that had been drawn up by “the powers that be.”

Will Cuban Products Ever Grace US Markets?

The imminent lifting of restrictions on trade between the United States and Cuba is making me dream about Cuban products of excellence being sold around the world, and the island’s innovative medications, cigars and rum becoming available at US pharmacies and markets.

The Democratic Alternative for Cuba

Two paths are becoming clear to Cuba after the failure of “State socialism”: the authoritarian-capitalist one offered by the current “reform process”, sustained by an alliance between State monopoly capitalism (dressed up as socialism) and foreign capital, under the control of the same old government-State-Party, and the all-inclusive democratic one, which I will try to summarize here, while also exploring how we can reach it and what obstacles lie in the way.

Should the Cuban Adjustment Act Get the Axe?

Now that the US and Cuba have reestablished diplomatic relations, should the Cuban Adjustment Act get the axe? The issue is a hot potato in US politics.

USA: New Cuba Policies for Old Aims

To openly acknowledge that these new relations between the United States and Cuba aim to “reach the objectives that those who supported the embargo had” (AKA regime change), is rather arrogant and continues to underestimate Cuba.

Cuba’s Impossible, Unnecessary and Immoral Efforts at the Pan-American Games

The latest Pan-American Games came to an end and Cuban sports authorities are very much distressed. The local predictions made prior to the competition suffered from an excess of optimism. Cuba’s delegation came out in fourth place. The official aim of retaining the island’s second place was not reached.

The Predictions of Fidel Castro

The Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia recently published an anecdote involving Fidel Castro that I had heard before, but I hadn’t put much stock in the source until reading the article. The version published by the newspaper includes a date, names and context.

Lessons on Corruption from Cuba’s Mariela Castro

Now, as Mrs. Rainbow Castromasov feels she can lecture us about corruption, I wonder: are there no people, people with greater moral authority, to lead any type of change in Cuba other than the members of that family? Is there not a single gay man or lesbian more knowledgeable of the needs of their community, and more entitled to lead their movement, than this woman? Is she the only one who can do this?

The Cuba Embargo: A Dying Patient

In these changing times in US-Cuba relations, Fernando Ravsberg notes the practical effects of the half century US embargo on the island as well as the way the Cuban government has used it for its purposes. Blaming the economic embargo for all of Cuba’s disasters was of course also a tactic used to conceal the failure of many utopian plans that undermined the nation’s economic foundations even more.

Is the Communist Youth (UJC) the only Organization Needed by Cuba’s Young People?

I had set very clear goals for myself by the time I reached junior high: after completing the 9th grade, I would enroll at the Exact Sciences Vocational Institute and I would secure membership with the Young Communists League (UJC).