In any case — with or without pressure — the White House will negotiate for its man and we’ll only have to wait to see how much it will give up in exchange. For the time being, an atmosphere of “greater understanding” can be noted in bilateral relations.
Read MoreFormer Cuban President Fidel Castro made a call to put a stop to the hike in food prices, which threatens dozens of developing countries with the spread of hunger. In one of his newspaper columns, Castro proposed ending the conversion of maize and soya into biofuels as a means to face the high prices for agricultural products
Read MoreFor a long time, the idea has been promoted in Cuban society that a good revolutionary “eats dry flour and doesn’t make comments.” From this it is understood that a proper Cuban accepts their poverty and remains faithful to the ideals of the state.
Read MoreFormer Cuban President Fidel Castro published a commentary on Thursday night analyzing the speech earlier in the day by US President Obama at the University of Tucson. Castro wrote that Obama missed the opportunity to “morally condemn the policies which inspired” the killing of six persons and wounding of 13 more including congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson on January 8th.
Read MoreThey have asked me not to use the word “crime,” but I haven’t been able to come up with another term that defines the action better for killing people who are mentally ill through the use of hunger and cold to steal from them. It was such a cruel act that no one should benefit from extenuated words.
Read MorePeople have been encouraged to speak freely about the economic guidelines of the Sixth Party Congress set for April, so with all due respect I am expressing my point of view.
A real discussion about the meaning of socialism should be at the center of debate in the upcoming party congress. However, the method being used for meetings at workplaces and among party members only call for discussion on specific, limited, prefabricated economic guidelines.
Read MoreTo summarize what happened in Cuba in 2010 is no easy task; there were so many occurrences that they cannot be covered in a single post. I will try to separate the wheat from the chaff, the truth from the talk, and the outcomes from the aspirations.
The economy shifted its direction radically. This began with the announcement of the layoff of 500,000 public employees (by the end of March 2011) and the opening of self-employed work. This is a process that over a five-year period will impact a total of 1.8 million public-sector workers.
Read MoreAt the moment I didn’t even remember that a friend had spoken to me a few days prior about Project Image, thanks to which they’re repairing the apartment building where he lives. This plan, which has been reversing the general visual deterioration of several buildings in the Alamar suburb, includes the repair of damaged stairways, balconies and roofs. But residents are complaining about the superficiality of the repairs and saying for example that it’s a waste to paint the large windows when the overwhelming majority of them are infested with termites and should be replaced immediately.
Read MoreA few weeks ago we learned through the Cuban minister of Labor of a plan to retrain workers being laid off; its objective is to export these individuals. The idea is simple: if there is an excess here, they can be exported to other countries (technically this is called the “export of professional services”). This would solve two problems: unemployment and the chronic shortage of hard currency.
Read MoreCuba is a society lacking basic civil and political freedoms. But it is a living society, with an impressive mass of university and technical graduates, with an educational system that continues to be well recognized internationally.
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