Opinion

Agreed, We Need a Different Model

The debate is sometimes sharp, at moments tense, closed; nor is it between individuals under the same conditions. Many revolutionaries and communists debate from the inside, which involves precariousness, patience and tolerance.

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Democracy Cuban Style

I remember a private party in which trova musician Pedro Luis Ferrer sang some of his more critical songs. One of the Cuban participants told him with delight: “That’s it; we should reconstruct the Cuba we had before that guy came to power.”

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Our Lady of Charity Day Observed

When the tragedies hit home, when we go to the doctor but can’t find a cure, when a boy or girl begins to suffer strange attacks, when a parent loses a child —or a child a parent—, when a relative finds themselves in jail… in the midst of all such difficult situations, many of us Cubans call upon our Patron Saint for guidance, for the power to endure all pain and to even remedy our misfortunes.

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Cuba Has a Nationality Conflict

It turns out that the “law of laws” —with which compliance is mandatory by all Cubans— says that “dual citizenship will not be admitted. As a consequence, when foreign citizenship is acquired, Cuban citizenship will be annulled.”

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Cuba: Excuses & Contexts

On occasion, the defenders of the Revolution shield themselves from criticism by pointing to disasters that have occurred in other countries, as if the problems faced by other societies can be used to justify the deficiencies of the Cuban system. I’m not disputing that real social, economic and human rights crises exist in other countries, but I think that the problems of others continue to serve as the comfort of fools, because that road only leads to resignation and paralysis.

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My August 13: Improving Our Lives

This past August 13, our country celebrated the 84th birthday of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander-in-chief Fidel Castro Ruz. That same day, a group of friends and I collected garbage along a small strip on Havana’s coast.

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The Legitimacy of Cuba’s Laws

Not too long ago I went to look for a kitchen faucet at a hardware store that sells products in hard currency. The salesperson told me that they didn’t have any in stock, but she herself recommended that I talk to one of the vendors outside of the store, that “surely they can take care of it.”

Any clamp down on these “crimes” has been useless up to now. Security companies were created, with the net result being that the guards have been added to the chain of theft.

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