Who will decide what is rude, banal or offensive? Clearly it would be unwise to leave this in the hands of Cuban television, the same ones who for decades refused to broadcast Strawberry and Chocolate, one of the best Cuban films of all time.
Read MoreFor the first time in fifty years, what we might call “socialist pragmatism” seems to be guiding the steps of the president of our country. President Raul Castro clearly shows his intentions to scrap Frankenstein’s monster of an economy that we’ve had for decades.
Read MoreThe resulting impact on Cuba is predictable. Whatever the post-Chavez outcome in Venezuela, Raul Castro will have to expect worse conditions than those that are currently maintaining him in power and will have to obtain some access to the US market, accepting the condescending gesture from Obama.
Read MoreOn December 7, the Granma newspaper reported on what may be called large-scale telephone fraud. Two foreign companies were able to provide mobile and landline telephone services to numbers of Cubans, charging them black market prices well below those set by the national telephone company, ETECSA, which typically monopolizes those services on the island.
Read MoreMiami is undoubtedly a highly emotional issue for Cubans: Some because they love it, others because they hate it and to quite a few who simply fear it.
Read MoreI first met Hugo Chavez in 1994. He had just gotten out of prison and came to visit Cuba and Fidel Castro, who received him with the honors given a head of state. As I listened to Chavez speak at the University of Havana, I was trying to understand what the Cuban leader was up to.
Read MoreAs I learned about Haitian President Michel Martelly’s recent visit to Cuba, I was forced to reflect on my childhood memories in La Guira, Banes, a United Fruit Company Soweto-type, sugar cane plantation community in Holguin.
Read MoreAccording to one of the criticisms elicited by my article “Cuba’s One-Party State is the Main Obstacle” published in Havana Times, multiparty systems are a bad idea because they are invariably corrupt and inevitably involve the unprincipled politicking that characterized pre-revolutionary Cuba and other electoral systems in capitalist countries.
Read MoreThe five Cubans were convicted of charges that were not proven; rather, the jurors responded to constant pressure and intimidation by terrorist groups based in South Florida. For this same reason the five were sentenced to unreasonably long sentences.
Read MoreOn Monday I was in the waiting room at my hospital when the noontime news came on. The broadcast began with information about the headline of the moment here in Cuba: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez undergoing cancer treatment in our country.
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