Opinion

Cuba’s New, Disquieting Labor Law

It took me a while, but I’ve finally finished my notes on the bill for the new Labor Law they’ll soon be forcing on Cubans. My impressions can be summed up with one word: yikes! As written, the bill is unconstitutional, discriminatory and downright deceitful. When you make a claim of this nature, of course, you have to be able to prove it.

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Cuba’s Heartless Market

Eleven Cubans have died at the hands of other Cubans who thought stealing alcohol from their workplace and selling it on the black market was an easy way to make a quick buck. It’s not the first time something like this happens here, and it probably won’t be the last.

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Cuba is Not Free of Racism

Taking the call that Cuba’s current president recently made as my point of departure, I am going to prove, on the basis of some personal experiences, that racism does exist in Cuba. It is my hope that, by acknowledging its existence, we can begin to work together to make this evil disappear once and for all.

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Havana’s Daily Soap Opera Stories (Part II)

Today, I will speak of Apartment 2. A small, one-bedroom place like mine, the apartment had to be partitioned in order to house the five people who started living there as of two months ago. The owner is a woman of around 42. She has a 24-year-old son and two little girls (who are five and three).

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Cuba: Socialism or Miami

Anyone who’d lived in Cuba – or any of the countries that once made up the inaptly-called Socialist Bloc – long enough to see, up close, how those who called themselves “communists” behaved, would have known that these people were bound to leave the island in the blink of an eye as soon as there was nothing to gain out of this lofty title.

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Havana’s Architectural Barriers

The Cuban media often speaks of the architectural barriers that hinder the movement of disabled people around the city and insists on the need to eliminate them as soon as possible. Though the message is aimed at all institutions and society in general, not all barriers around the city are given the same priority – and I speak from experience.

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