Opinion

Cuba’s Fidel: The Most Well-Foretold Death

The sources that originate these rumors are close enough to Fidel Castro to give them credibility but sufficiently diffuse to never allow verification. These come from “high-ranking military leaders,” “family members of Cuban leaders” and “members of their medical staffs.”

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How Far Can Cuba’s Raul Castro go on Immigration?

This issue will be particularly difficult to solve for Cuba’s leaders. Moreover, the disparity between spokespeople themselves, crying out for changes that never come, could indicate internal contradictions within the elite. The fact is that if Cubans could travel without asking permission, be free to decide the dates of their coming and going, and travel without having to pay for expensive consular services the Cuban government currently demands, this would be taking an important step in dismantling the authoritarian political system.

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Cuba Has Alan Gross, US Doesn’t Really Care

Ever since his arrest in December 2009, the US State Department, and even president Obama, have been telling Cuba that it should release Gross. At first they tried to say he was innocent but when that became obviously false they went the humanitarian route.

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Cuba’s Vegetable Rage

In Cuba, the trend toward vegetarian diets is becoming more popular. Though it has been fueled by the mass media and health food advocates, it still hasn’t been easy to motivate most people in this regard. Cuban dining culture has historically been sustained by the consumption of meat, fish and carbohydrates (with this latter having been the basis of the diet since the advent of the Special Period crisis starting the early 1990s).

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Toothbrush Solutions for Cuba

A few days ago I read an article in Cubadebate that caught my attention. The article deals with the production of toothbrushes in what is apparently the only factory that produces them in Cuba – and which is, of course, state-run.

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The Unity of the Majority of Cubans

It’s good that the president recognizes that not all Cubans are represented by the Communist Party of Cuba or identify with its concept of what is and should be the revolution. Part of the Cuban people, perhaps just a minority as was stated (or several minorities), disagrees with the system.

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How Cuba Opened-up in 2011

The Raul Castro government ends the year with kept promises and outstanding debts. The “opening” of the housing and automotive markets was well received by Cubans, but many continue to await immigration reform and modifications to the Family Code.

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Cuba, Cooperation and Transformations

Few modern concepts have been more purposely ignored than that of direct cooperative ownership of the instruments of production by working associates. The subject has special relevance for Cuba, and also for the world’s urgently needed advance to post-capitalism.

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Cuba: Talking Outside of Prison

Just 24 hours after the announcement by Raul Castro — in the middle of the Christmas season — the government began releasing over 2,900 prisoners, many of whom are now in their homes. We managed to talk with several of them during these hectic last 48 hours.Finding a few of them wasn’t difficult. In almost every neighborhood there are freed prisoners.

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