Opinion

Cuba: A Good Time to Talk about Democracy

It’s good to know how things work in the United States – it keeps our dissatisfaction with the Cuban government from leading us to prefer the US model. I only think that if we talk about democracy, this is a good time to address our own.

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Cuba’s Children, Among the Happiest

The story of children in Cuba during the revolutionary period begins with a dark chapter: “Operation Peter Pan,” organized and financed by the CIA and implemented with the complicity of some Catholic priests and Falangists.

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Cuba: The Relativity of Courage

After reading “Drooling Over the Pope in Cuba,” a post by Yasmin S. Portales on the Pope’s visit to Cuba, I felt the need to share some of my concerns. Firstly though, I would like to clarify that I’m not Catholic or Christian, not in the sense of practicing any official brand of Christianity.

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Yell at Those Who Screwed Up

The recent visit of Pope Benedict XVI visit was an extraordinary opportunity for the government to show its tolerance and its democratic vocation. However, the government’s behavior appeared more like a paramilitary operation designed to face an eventual uprising than to receive a special and friendly visitor.

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Cuba After the Pope: Reform or Doi Moi?

“In Cuba there won’t be political reform.” It was surprising that this short statement by Vice President Marino Murillo was the one most published from his press conference held during the visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Cuba last month.

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Havana’s Movie Theater Dilemma

In Cuba, in contrast to other countries, the movies aren’t a luxury but a form of entertainment that’s accessible to people of all incomes. A ticket costs two pesos in national currency (US 10 cents).

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Proposal for Socializing Cuba’s Medical System

This doesn’t mean privatizing the Cuban health care system and turning it over to capital to exploit doctors and patients, but instead limiting the role of the government, socializing production, for the good of the services provided and the workers.

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A Unique Opportunity for Change in the USA

The above title was the same one I used for a short commentary I wrote in November 2008, just days after Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. Today, he enters his re-election campaign — after four years of doing what he shouldn’t have done and not doing what people hoped he would do.

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