The other day, I was going to visit my mother and by chance I decided to get off the bus that was going to drop me at Fraternity Park. From there I could see an agglomeration of people on the ground floor of the Saratoga Hotel, and since I’m curious, I decided to go over there. The stir was over the supposed presence of Beyoncé.
Read MoreThis April marks a decade since one of the most depressing moments of recent Cuban history: Black Spring. It was a time when Fidel Castro, excited about what he recognized as a revolutionary wave in Latin America and the arrival of the first Venezuelan subsidies, decided to eradicate all signs of discontent and opposition.
Read MoreIn Cuba, when you do something completely out of place, with no justification, and erratically, we simply say “te has cagado” (you screwed up). Simply, anyone equipped with common sense knows that Korea would disappear from the face of the earth without anything serious happening to the Americans.
Read MoreI carefully read some articles in Havana Times that referred to alleged racial discrimination in Cuba, an opinion I disagree with completely. Nor is it true that Cuban society is viewed as a white society. Quite the contrary. Emphasis is always made on our African roots being an important element in the formation of our nation.
Read MoreSome people just rub you the wrong way the first time you see them. It’s like falling out of love at first sight. It doesn’t matter if what they do or say is good or bad, of if they’re for or against you…the thing is that you simply can’t stand them.
Read MoreSome deserve respect, others a hearing, others reproach; others are to laugh at, others to be pitied. The riders on the anti-Castro merry-go-round in Miami deserve a place in the Guinness Book of Records as people who, forever in motion, can never reach a final destination.
Read MoreI read in the Cuban press that the island has already met the “Millennium Development Goals,” set by the UN with a target for 2015. I didn’t pay too much attention to the article; I figured it was more of the optimism that characterizes the official media here.
Read MoreI recently saw a documentary expressing opinions on education. But whose opinions were these? The teachers themselves. I wish that many children and young people in Cuba could see it. It reminded me of all my old feelings, as I realized the objective cruelty of school.
Read MoreUnder a title devoid of historical accuracy and objectivity, Roberto Zurbano is trying to characterize the situation of blacks in Cuba today. As a critical evaluator of the subject, I share some of his assertions, but not in such absolute terms, much less with the lack of objectivity with which these are formulated or his conclusions in a recent The New York Times article.
Read MoreOn March 18, Havana Times published an open letter sent to writer Angel Santiesteban from Jose Miguel “Yoss” Sanchez accusing the writer of being guilty of committing acts of violence against his former wife. Here is Santiesteban’s response, written from his prison compound outside the Havana municipality of Guanabacoa.
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