Opinion Archives - Page 448 of 492

Cuba’s Tantrum Foreign Policy

Raul Castro has stated that one of his main priorities is to restore the country’s international economic credibility, something I find quite reasonable.

Cuba Silent on Child Prostitution Case

According to unofficial media here, yesterday a trial began — behind closed doors — in which 14 people (among them three Italian citizens) are implicated in the death of a Cuban junior high school student.

A Cuban Kid’s Hunger

Around 9 o’clock last night, while I was passionately reading an autobiography, my youngest daughter interrupted me. With the face of a good little girl, she announced: “Mummy, I’m hungry.”

Cuba-US Agents, a Humanitarian Way Out

It takes some effort to believe that Washington is seriously thinking they’ll succeed at securing a pardon for Alan Gross by simply saying that if Havana wants “warmer relations with the United States” they should free him. It’s as if they’ve tried to sow hopes using the strategy of the invisible carrot.

Talking about Cuba

Several days ago I read a comment online saying that, except for people who receive family remittances from overseas, all Cubans are starving, with young people appearing to have come out of concentration camps and it being rare to find an obese person on the island.

Cuba Gov. Deals with ‘Unusual Situations’

The Cuban government’s position — which implies a greater degree of tolerance than before — could be explained by synthetically paraphrasing the words of Fidel Castro to the intellectuals in 1961: within the private realm, everything; outside of the private realm, nothing.

The Plague That Has Cuba On Edge

If Cuba doesn’t have today a better connection to the Internet, it’s not because of the “blockade by the Americans” or because “the communists limit freedom of information.” The true reason lies with a much more powerful enemy: A corrupt bureaucratic class.

What Point Have We Gotten To…

For Cubans, anything that comes from abroad is well received. It doesn’t matter if it’s an elastic band for one’s hair, a plastic shaving razor, cheap costume jewelry or second hand clothes. The worst part is that when a relative comes on a visit to the island with these kinds of things, then the problems begin.

Co-ops Get Space in Cuba Party Paper

Following the speech by President Raul Castro before the National Assembly on August 1, Granma newspaper (the official organ of the Communist Party of Cuba, or PCC) began publishing a series of incisive articles against the bureaucracy, in support of workers participation in decision-making (even in the allocation of earnings), and in support of cooperativism.

Cuba Faces Fanatics with Tight Press

The disorders that afflict Cuba’s press are definitively chronic. Yesterday on the national TV news I heard a special announcement that — instead of informing me — actually misinformed me.