Opinion

Blackouts and Waste

An explanation was published by Cuba’s Electric Company under the headline: “Commission Reports on the Cause of the Sept. 9 Blackout.” According to the memo, this is the report by the committee that was set up to investigate the accident, its causes and the conditions that led to the breakdown.

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Greater Flexibility Yes, Free Movement of Citizens No

The absence of the right to travel abroad since the sixties has been a major source of discontent among Cubans. With the measures recently adopted by his government, Raúl Castro is now trying to lower the intensity of that discontent by making the existing rules to leave and enter the country more flexible, and in the process, achieve other goals.

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Don’t Call Me a Traitor, Because I’m Not

All around the world people are writing stories and articles on the internet telling about their lives as well as discussing what’s happening in their neighborhoods, provinces and countries. Cubans are one of the few peoples on the planet who can’t do this freely, at least not the way we’d like.

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The Upcoming Cuban Elections

Cubans go to the polls on Sunday October 21 to elect neighborhood delegates. The Cuban president isn’t elected by the citizens, nor do they elect the vice president, or the presidents of the municipal or provincial assemblies, which would be the counterparts to mayors and governors.

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Cubans Finally Have Immigration Reform

I imagine that some Cubans readers are going to criticize me for trying to dig up flaws in this latest reform, and they might have a point. Despite its limitations, the fact is that never in more than 50 years have the people of the island had greater freedom to travel.

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Cuba Has an ‘Updated’ Immigration Policy

Raul Castro’s government has given birth to the “updating” of the nation’s immigration policy. Regulations have been relaxed, irritating fees have been eliminated, and contacts between islanders and Cuban émigrés are going to be facilitated.

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Cuba’s Elections and Lessons from Abroad

Four years ago I became interested in elections for the first time. This year I followed the second electoral process in my life. Yet on neither of those two occasions did these involve elections in my country. Unconsciously, I’ve convinced myself that elections abroad affect my life more than those in Cuba.

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The Positioning of the Cuban New Left

When left has entered into the game of the liberal democratic system, it has been absorbed by realpolitik and economic pragmatism, and it has had to change its political agenda, betraying its core values.

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