A few days ago while walking through Old Havana, I saw the police trying to stop some neighborhood kids from playing soccer in a park. There were five simultaneous games underway that were almost completely preventing the activities of other people.
Read MoreI maintain that philosophy isn’t a subject for the masses, though I don’t mean to say that not everyone can philosophize. Like Socrates said, everyone has in themselves the beginnings of wisdom.
Read MoreThe United States has committed deplorable acts against the Cuban nation, it’s true, but all of those together fail to justify even one of the arbitrary measures taken by the Cuban government (many of them still in force) against its emigrant population.
Read MoreI ran into two friends who were euphoric. One of them can finally put the title of his Russian Lada car in his name. The other can now transfer his car ownership to his daughter “without having to die.”
Read More“Bajo el Mismo Sol” (Under the Same Sun) is probably not the best soap series that’s ever come on Cuban TV, but it is one of the best in terms of reflecting the Cuba of its time.
Read MoreIn technical terms, while the political system moves towards an authoritarian status — requiring obedience more than empathy — the elite maintains its totalitarian bent, as if it were actually in a position to command the enthusiastic allegiance of people around the promise of a new world that it can no longer even promise.
Read MoreIt is no secret that the Cuban government has harshly punished those people that oppose it; using violence in many cases and long prison terms against many dissenters. On the other hand they stimulate those that support their rule.
Read MoreI live in one of the many marginal neighborhoods of Havana, and ever since I can remember, whenever the date of September 28 started to approach, the residents on each block are summoned to a gathering of their CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution).
Read MoreEver since I was little my friends used to say I was headstrong because I always went against everything. The truth is, though, I don’t think I’m like that at all. I only stand up for my ideas, my principles and my preferences – tooth and nail.
Read MoreThe Romans weren’t the ones who invented municipalities as local institutions, but they understood the need to develop political structures capable of maintaining the unity of their empire. The Cuban model, to the contrary, is so centralized that almost nothing is done without authorization from Havana.
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