Opinion

Cuba’s New Decrees & the Original Sin

We’re continuing with the same old thing: a small group on top that decides, and the great majority who carries it out — the essence of the bureaucratic system — when it should be completely the other way around.

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A Cuba Face for the Chinese Model

There can be no taboo or de-prioritized subjects. Issues such as democracy and participation, social autonomy, systems of political representation, political pluralism, freedom, and so on are all as vital as economic performance.

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Cuba Confronts Gender Violence

Odalis is a cute black woman, young and full of life, who lives in a comfortable house with her 15-year-old daughter who adores her. It could be said that this Cuban woman has everything to be happy, or almost everything – even a husband who says he loves her. If it weren’t for the screams and slaps that he frequently gives her, one might believe in his love.

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Cuba’s Citizens Freer Movement

The recent reform of the law that limited migration from the provinces to the capital seems a step in the right direction, though it still doesn’t completely respond to the spirit of the constitution entitling Cubans to live wherever they see fit.

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On Cuba’s Farmers, Lettuce and Hotels

The recent authorization given to different types of cooperatives to sell products directly to the tourism industry is positive. However, in politics, the Cuban government will only concede what’s necessary to assure that its economic model functions on its behalf.

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Crisis at Cuba’s Famous Film School?

The alarm was triggered by a letter written by the school’s current director, Rafael Rosal, who affirmed that the educational institution was “on the verge of collapse” and urgently needed help “to halt the deterioration of its infrastructure.”

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Cuba Party Conference, a Last Chance

The steps announced to offset the gradual move away from the paternalistic role of the state (decentralization, the autonomy of business enterprises, the relaxation of restrictions on self-employment, moves towards cooperativism, and the elimination of many absurd rules) are being carried one drip at a time and from a state-centric vision.

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Being Fashionable In Cuba

Dressing passably has become one of those everyday problems that workers on a median salary can barely resolve, unless we have help from a family member living outside the country, works on an international mission or obtains hard currency at work, as in the tourist sector.

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HT Makes it to Year Four!

Havana Times is now in its fourth year of publishing, and with an ever growing number of original commentaries, reports and photos, both from the capital and eastern Cuba. Likewise, our readership continues on the rise in direct visits, Facebook, search engines and by e-mail — especially in Cuba.

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