Opinion

Cuba’s Role in Latin American Integration

All of the leaders who spoke at the Summit of Latin American and Caribbean States underscored Cuba’s efficiency as chair of the organization in the course of 2013 and congratulated the Cuban government for the extraordinary organization that characterized the summit’s activities.

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Looking Over the Wall from Havana

It may just be how the victors portray things, or West Germany may have actually been a bastion of freedom and a bright-colored world. Footage from the time shows East Germans enthralled by everything that took place on the other side of the wall.

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Cuba and Our Daily Farewells

Today, they are finally leaving. Days before, everyone had been anxiously waiting for Carlos, his wife and daughter to get the documents they needed to travel to the United States.

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Local Cuban Newspaper Reports on Protest

The local paper in Holguin, Cuba published an unusual report on the events surrounding a protest by small private business persons that took place on January 21, after the Police forced them to close and confiscated some of the merchandise.

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My Naivety and Changes in Cuba

Some rather disquieting thoughts have been going around my head as I’ve followed the most recent changes the government has set in motion to “make life easier” for people who work in the non-State sector. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the officials who work day and night to break the government’s inertia on certain State-related and social issues aren’t deserving of commendation.

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Raul Castro’s Speech to Havana Summit

Latin American and Caribbean nations leaders are gathered in Havana for the second day on Wednesday for a summit that includes all countries of the Americas except the US and Canada. Host president Raul Castro addressed them at the opening session on Tuesday. Here is an official translation of his full speech.

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Cuba: The Heroic Construction of Capitalism

I am often criticized for reading Cuba’s official daily, Granma. I continue to do it, however, because I feel it is worthwhile. Here’s an example: a report on a recent incident on the coast of Santa Lucia, in Cayo Jutia, a 2.5 mile stretch of pristine, paradisiacal beaches.

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Havana For All Cubans

The truck comes to a stop at one of the corners of the park. From the license plate, everyone knows it’s come from Havana. They’ve seen it before. They tear themselves free from their provincial, afternoon lethargy and quickly approach the vehicle. It’s around four in the afternoon in Guantanamo, Cuba’s easternmost province.

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What I Saw in Cuba at the Close of 2013

After arriving by plane to the Holguin airport on December 24th, we noticed the first sign that something was wrong during our trip to the city of Bayamo. There was a deathly silence in the city. Bayamo’s Cespedes park and its surrounding areas seemed peopled by the dead.

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