Opinion Archives - Page 467 of 495

Project Image in Havana

At 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.

Cuba & the Plan to Export Professionals

A 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.

Diego’s Grandmother and Cuba’s Future

Cuba 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.

A Year End Peek at Guantanamo, Cuba

I made it to the farmer’s market…well, to where there was supposed to have been a market. There was nothing, or — better said — there was in fact a lot of people drinking and laughing. The celebrations had already begun there.

Cuba’s Stuck ‘Transmission Belt’

“It looks like you want to get yourself into trouble, friend,” a Cuban official warned me when he learned about the article I’m working on for the beginning of next year. The truth is that he left me reflecting on that philosophy of life that is so widespread.

“Not getting into trouble” is a goal that’s much more difficult than it seems. For this to happen it’s not enough to sell your soul to the devil, you also have to sell it to God and end up becoming a kind of spiritual merchant.

Cuba Faces Taxing New Year 2011

The public understands perfectly well the need for many of the economic measures that will be implemented but “People remain skeptical because while they’ve heard a lot of speeches, they don’t have complete confidence in the government’s ability to solve the problems.”

The Next President

Yesterday they notified all the residents on the block that we would meet that evening with two or three directors from the area to select a new president of our neighborhood Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).

US-Cuba Relations at Deadly Crossroad (I)

A very serious issue that should not be ignored because of the negative impact it exerts on thousands of elderly and low income Cuban-Americans, who are denied the opportunity to visit their country, because of the onerous processing fee for their Cuban Passport and Visa and for having to purchase one the most expensive airline tickets in the world.

Grandma Visits from Cuba

Two different generations of Cubans confront the same social phenomenon though neither have a voice or a vote. The revolution is seen through the lens of those who helped to make it and another of those who were born within it.

On Ambassadors and Dissidents

What an honor it was for us when Jonathan Farrar (the highest US diplomatic representative in Cuba) supported the analysis of BBC Mundo concerning dissidents. This served to confirm our assessment, because he is extremely qualified on that issue.