I usually share both the good things and bad things that happen to me with my relatives but that evening, I didn’t tell anyone at home I had found the bill. Perhaps it was out of fear everyone would suddenly want me to buy them something. I know my brothers well. Looking back, though, I think I simply wanted some time to decide how I would spend the money I’d found.
Read MoreWhile the State-Party-Proprietor, the government, the press and central bureaucratic apparatus continue to blame company managers for Cuba’s low production indices, the economic disaster caught sight of in State companies – for which they have only themselves to blame – will also continue.
Read More“They want to change the script without consulting with us first,” a Cuban filmmaker tells me, referring to the restructuring of Cuba’s film industry, a process undertaken by a government commission and high officials of the Cuban Film Industry and Art Institute (ICAIC).
Read MoreWhile waiting for something to take me back to my neighborhood, at the outskirts of the city, I had the most pleasant surprise a poor person can have: I found a bill lying on the street – wet, dirty and crumpled. I didn’t want to unfold the bill there, fearing the owner could come back and claim it.
Read MoreThe cultural and, to a certain extent, political liberalization that has taken place in Cuba, particularly since Raúl Castro assumed power in 2006, has been mostly limited to certain circles, such as the cultural-political milieu of the Catholic Church, and, to a lesser extent, the academic and artistic milieux of the island.
Read MoreAfter retiring in 2009, I took off the last in a long line of cheap wrist-watches and added it to the collection of broken and disused watches in my top bureau drawer. Henceforth, if I needed to know the time, I’d consult my cell-phone. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize US cell phones don’t work in Cuba and, in October of 2010, I found myself, if not Eyeless in Gaza, then at least “timeless” in Havana.
Read MoreFrom June 11-14, the FEU will hold the closing sessions of its 8th Congress, a gathering which, since January of this year, has engaged students in a broad debate process and an exchange of ideas and proposals regarding the workings of the organization, institutional issues and political questions.
Read MoreOne can get a sense of the direction that things are moving in Cuba by looking at how a number of intellectuals on the island have begun to flirt with the idea of a “loyal opposition.” But a loyal opposition does not limit itself to softening the sting of power’s ill-conceived policies.
Read MoreHow many times have you heard someone call someone an animal because of their brutality and violence be it verbal or physical. The funny thing is calling a person an animal is not an insult because in reality we are animals, the main difference being we can reason and think.
Read MoreI think that the timid but significant changes that Raul Castro has been implementing – with a number of variations that any sound analyst would make – are the best thing that could happen to Cuba. The general-turned president, however, doesn’t exactly have the moral authority to advance these changes as his own, as he was never a dissident,
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