Havana Times

Opinion

Honduras: From Bad to Worse

With ousted President Manuel Zelaya installed at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran military and its civilian supporters who seized power on June 28 continue to play big stakes poker. The coup leaders continue to snub the entire United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS), as well as stymie any attempts to mediate the crisis. Their latest move was to issue a decree “allowing them to suspend freedom of speech, ban protests and suspend media groups.” A radio and TV station were raided on Monday.

Horrifying Image from Honduras

Knowing what the Chilean military did to thousands of prisoners at the Santiago stadium after the 9/11/73 coup against President Salvador Allende, a photo appearing today in BBC World is all the more horrifying. More than 600 Hondurans were detained in the last four days and the lives of those persons and others is seriously threatened. Brazil is seriously concerned that the Honduran military could decide to violate the embassy premises to try and arrest President Zelaya.

Juanes’s Cuba Event in Full Color

While the significance of the all-afternoon concert on Sunday in Cuba’s Revolution Square continues to generate commentary, Havana Times offers our readers a close look at some of the over a million Cubans and foreign visitors that made it to the plaza despite the burning sun.

Juanes in Cuba: Quite a Concert

What is clear is that while average people on this side of the Florida Strait-especially the youngest-welcomed Juanes with his magical golden flute, the Jurassic generation on the other side responded to him with the dark tones of a tuba. Isolation has many avenues, and opinions like these constitute only one part of the fat that separates them from the bone.

Some Airline Bomb Plotters Go to Jail

Three men accused of plotting to blow up several planes in the UK were sentenced to long prison terms on Monday. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic in Miami, two men who bragged about bombing a passenger plane that killed 72 persons are free to continue conspiring to commit more terrorist acts.

Margaret Randall’s Years in Cuba

On the back cover of “To Change the World: My Years in Cuba” is a statement by Maria Lopez Vigil, author of “Cuba: Neither Heaven Nor Hell:” To know Cuba, neither analyses nor statistics nor official declarations nor diatribes by its adversaries are enough. One needs eyes infused with heart, passionate eyes, with which to look at the Cuban people in their daily life. In this book Margaret Randall looks at Cuba through such eyes.”

Obama’s Cuba Piñata

Some say in the US that the embargo or blockade is like a piñata hanging from the ceiling, one which doesn’t have to be pulled down in a single jerk, but just taken apart piece by piece – today an arm, tomorrow a leg, later the head – until it finally falls from its own weight.

Juanes Cuba Concert Stirs Miami Pot

Upon Juanes’ return to Miami, the weight of tradition began to bear down on the artist. The Colombian-born singer was immediately accused of acting in complicity with the socialist regime and “changing his black shirt for a red one” – obviously another over-the-top allegation. In addition, he was threatened with a boycott and the destruction of his discography, an experience that others who have dared to cross the circle of ashes have suffered.

Cuba’s Dual Purpose Newspapers

Every few months toilet paper becomes scarce in the Cuban capital, where people are accustomed to cutting up old newspapers to fill the gap. This deficit can last for weeks, until the centralized importation mechanism manages to make another purchase and the inflexible distribution chain supplies it to the stores.

Cleaning House in Cuba

President Raul Castro sounded the alarm when he took office in February 2008, when he made it known that tolerance of misuse of state resources was on the out. Since then, little guys scraping to get by, on up to several of the country’s top ministers and political figures in much larger illicit operations, have fallen from grace after being accused of theft or corruption.