Against their own forecasts, dissidents Yoani Sanchez, Eliecer Avila and the daughter of Osvaldo Paya left Cuba – all benefiting from the new immigration reforms that opened the island’s doors after 50 years of extremely cumbersome and expensive procedures.
Read MoreWhen I heard that passports were going to be given to some opposition figures who had described the island as a prison, and later when a friend told me how easy it was for doctors to get permission to travel, I went back to my computer to read what I had been written on the subject since the Cuban president announced immigration reform.
Read MoreCuba has just concluded its general elections, and in their wake is the reflection of Guillermo Rodriguez, a revolutionary intellectual who is questioning some aspects of his country’s electoral system and is calling for more and better opportunities for participation.
Read MoreArlety is a friend of our family who we haven’t seen in a long time. She was an athlete who remained in Europe when she went there on tour with the Cuban team. Like all professional-level athletes and doctors on internationalist missions who decided not to return, she was considered a traitor and would never be allowed to set foot on the land of her birth.
Read MoreI just read an article published in Havana Times entitled “Progressive Struggles from Below, A Real Possibility,” by Dmitri Prieto. Although I’ve never taken the time to respond to what’s written about me or my work, this time I feel the obligation to do so.
Read MoreApart from two cousins serving on international missions in Africa, I don’t have any other family members abroad who I yearn to see. I do have friends on every continent. Most are old friends from college who now find themselves in the most unlikely spots on the planet.
Read MoreIt took only a few days for the new immigration regulations to come into effect for all-star baseball player and national hero Jose Ariel Contreras to show up at Havana’s international airport tearful, thrilled and grateful for having been able to return to his homeland.
Read MoreThe big difference now is that Cubans too will be able to return. To maintain their residency on the island, all they’ll have to do is come back every 24 months. But now they won’t return as deserters or traitors, but as citizens with the same rights as everyone else.
Read More“Krudas are so revolutionary that they had to emigrate.” Since then, every return by the singers Pelusa and Pasita has brought us several songs full of the experiences of being two lesbian feminist rappers from “the musical island” and survivor-dissidents of the air-brushed images of Cuban hip hop.
Read MoreA few nights ago, while reading in my living room, the voice of Professor Manuel Calvino came on his TV program “Vale la Pena” (It’s Worth It). He almost always begins by telling us about some situation that he witnessed or was involved in, or by reading a letter sent in to the show to make us reflect on a topic.
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