Opinion

Easy Rider Guevara

I am a pacifist to the last consequences. I believe killing is immoral, cruel, anachronistic and always counterproductive as a means of deterring crime. Massive wars are for me the most criminal actions imaginable. They are followed by torture and repression, and then by violent, individual murders in general. As I see it, no one has the right to kill anyone.

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Sexual Education in Cuba

We could well say that we have no sexual education in Cuba, that the thinking surrounding this issue continues to be medieval, for it has yet to place itself in step with the times and, like all taboos, all we can continue to expect is for sex-related issues to be swept under the carpet.

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A Cuban Teacher Missing the Classroom

My ninth-grade physics teacher is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, and I am not comparing him to mediocre instructors or those who haven’t had a serious education. I belong to a generation of Cubans who had the fortune of having good teachers, teachers who were not only well-versed in the course contents they taught and the teaching methods they used to do so, but who were also extremely passionate about their work.

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Cuba: Honest Opinion is Respectable, Lies are Abhorrent

I have always respected the opinion of those who honestly express their dissatisfaction or disagreement with the socialist system and who prefer capitalism, even with all its evils and inequality. Some of my friends have left Cuba for capitalist countries (in search of a dubious prosperity) and have not ceased being my friends because of this.

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Technocrat Myopia: a Cuban Problem

An authoritarian system that draws very clear limits for public expression comes at a high cost for society as it hinders the maturation of the ideologies that will be called on to take Cuba’s future political stage. And an ideology is not simply a corpus of more or less interconnected ideas. It is also an interpretation of society, a way of interacting with the subjects the ideology is aimed at.

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Cuba: How Low Can We Stoop?

I recently read an article by a fellow Havana Times blogger which mentions how the renowned Cuban actress Ana Luisa Rubio was beaten up as part of a government reprisal. When I first read her name, I had the impression I didn’t know the actress. After doing a Google search and seeing her photos, I immediately recognized her and felt profound pain.

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Race as a Challenge to Cuba’s Educational System

Cuba’s is a multiracial society. This issue, however, is nowhere addressed in the country’s study programs. This holds for junior, senior secondary and higher education. The issue isn’t only passed over in silence at the different classes and lectures students attend.

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Our Fear of the Unknown

I recently saw a rather unusual film: Flatland. It made such a deep impression on me that I went out and read the novel it was based on. Written by Edwin A. Abbot, it was first published in 1884.

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