Opinion

My Havana of Parking Lots

While Holguin, one of Cuba’s eastern cities, continues to be known as “the city of parks”, Havana will soon be known as “the city of parking lots”, one of my neighbors jokingly told me. Let’s have a look at this logic.

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Cuba: Pros & Cons on a Loyal Opposition

In a discussion on a loyal opposition, one must begin by pointing out the main obstacle to its existence in Cuba is the persistence, in power, of a narcissistic political elite that is deaf to all appeals and considers itself the very embodiment of the nation’s history and future.

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The US Embargo: Cuba’s Ally or Enemy?

Friends of the United States, political leaders who are not revolutionary in the least and many people who stand at a considerable distance from communism stand out among the vast majority of individuals, presidents and governments that oppose Washington’s obstinate policy towards Cuba. Many are of the conviction that, to date, the blockade/embargo has actually been an ally of Fidel Castro.

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Cuba’s Ration Booklet: A Catalogue of Privations

This is the basic consumer basket of the average Cuban: five eggs and some pounds of rice (the kind that “gets sticky”, not cooked) every month, enough sugar to turn a regular glass of water into an emergency breakfast, one kilogram of table salt (with crystals the size of Ping-Pong balls) once every who knows how many months. Placing these product quantities on the same plane as monthly needs entails a complicated mathematical operation.

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Obsolete US Policies Hinder Cuba’s Democratization

The United States’ policy towards Cuba has proven counterproductive It is more detrimental to the interests of the US government than those of the Cuban leadership and hurts the people of Cuba most of all, as it has been used, internally, to justify repression and anti-democratic policies.

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Cuba’s Prodigious Cow and its Hungry Sisters

I’ve just had the pleasure of watching Cuban filmmaker Enrique Colina’s documentary on “White Udder”, the Cuban record-breaking cow that produced over 110 liters of milk in a single day – an animal so prodigious it managed to eclipse the United States’ best milk producer.

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The Time to Lift the Cuba Blockade is Now

Recent news seems to suggest changes in the opinions of a number of individuals and governments with respect to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States more than 50 years ago.

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Cuba’s Baseball and Economic Failures: A Mere Coincidence?

Cuba’s national baseball team is at a modern day low. Meanwhile, the economic reform process, referred to as “updating”, is leading the nation downhill rather than bringing about the expected benefits. Are these two phenomena unrelated? NO, our baseball performance reflects, in some manner, the country’s current situation. Let us look at a number of concrete episodes of our country’s history.

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