I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the reality show most watched and enjoyed in Cuba is Caso Cerrado (“Case Closed”), a Miami domestic court program hosted by Judge Ana Maria Polo. Many watch the show at home, thanks to illegal satellite dishes. Others, like me, buy or rent weekly packages on discs that include the week’s cases.
Read MoreAs we might have expected from an incident as talked-about as asking for political changes in Cuba during a massive official function, musician Roberto Carcasses has become a kind of test case for political militancy on the island.
Read MoreAt five thirty in the morning, the shrill, loud noise of an obsolete lawn-mower wakes me up. At first, I am irritated, annoyed. It’s Saturday and I should be able to get a bit more sleep. On weekdays, I have to get up early to get my kid ready for school (he’s in junior high).
Read MoreWhat could have been and never was a socialist system, the dreamed-of society of the people, by the people and for the people, became a neo-Stalinist, bureaucratic, authoritarian and counterrevolutionary mess that imperialist powers and the Cuban leadership agree to continue to call “socialism.”
Read MoreCuban musician Roberto Carcasses’ recent declarations at a concert gave rise to a political tsunami. It is the only thing intellectual circles on the island seem to be talking about, as though they regarded the incident as something of primordial importance.
Read MoreWhen someone speaks of the Catholic Church, we often think of it as a powerful institution that has immense political influence everywhere. I will address this issue in general terms and then focus on the case of Cuba.
Read MoreWhen I heard Cuban musician Roberto Carcasses sing at a massive concert in Havana organized as a kind of tribute to the four Cuban agents imprisoned in the USA, the first thing I thought was that I was losing my sense of hearing and confusing wish with reality.The television cameras, all aimed at the stage, didn’t afford me a glimpse at the audience’s reaction, not even that of those standing at the front row: the relatives of the imprisoned agents, high government officials and a number of young girls who seemed to have been made to stand there to look happy.
Read MoreIn the Sierra Maestra building (CIMEX) of Miramar, is a Metropolitan Bank, a Banco International Financiero, an ATM … and a recently opened chain of stores, and a modern cafe.
Read MoreUS President Barack Obama’s intentions of launching a “limited strike” on Syria – a measure for which he has sought authorization from Congress – have prompted innumerable negative reactions around the world and no few statements from respected civilian and military personalities who do not wish these threats to be carried out.
Read MoreIn the years immediately following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution (in January 1959), the island’s trade union leadership undertook to do away with the strike as a mechanism for asserting worker demands. The Cuban Workers’ Federation (CTC) was absorbed by the State apparatus.
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