Opinion Archives - Page 477 of 499

Cuba Travel Setback with US Vote

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will now head the House Committee on Foreign Affairs effectively preventing any legislation that would remotely improve US-Cuba relations from ever making it out of her committee.

Electricity Blues in Cuba’s Homes

At home I’ve duplicated all possible measures to save energy: we practically live in the dark, I wash and iron every fifteen days; when a lot of clothes pile up, I wash some by hand; I defrost the refrigerator religiously every five days and I only use the electric burner when I have absolutely no other alternative.

Health Care in Cuba: Excellence, but with Flaws

The Cuban government allocates many millions of dollars annually in a tremendous effort to provide excellent health care services to the more than 11 million residents of the island. Notwithstanding, there is much dissatisfaction.

Transparency in Cuba, Unfortunately Absent

Among the worst damage suffered by Cuban society in its conflict with the United States has been perhaps the excessive secrecy established throughout the country as an essential civic virtue for protecting lives and properties on the island from “enemy” assaults.

The Cuban Dream

About 15 years ago a new family moved into a house in the neighborhood. We knew full well that this had involved an illegal purchase and sale of real estate, although no one complained about any wrongdoing.

Patience Running Thin

Luis is a fervent revolutionary, though he only carries a regular ID card and not one of the Cuban Communist Party. The State is unable to solve his simple plumbing situation because two departments within it cannot come to an agreement. The two entities are the Water and Sewer Department on one hand, and the Housing Authority on the other.

Cuba & El Salvador, Comparisons as a Necessary Evil

I just returned from El Salvador, where I spoke with numbers of people. Among them was a young doctor who now works for the Ministry of Public Health, though she had previously lived in Cuba for 11 years where she studied for her degree and in her specialty. She spoke to me as if I were the only person who could understand her.

Cuba’s Press and the Cepeda Affair

A few days ago the new Cuban baseball roster was announced for the Intercontinental Cup to take place starting October 23 in Chinese Taipei. The restructuring of Team Cuba has generated more than a few comments in our country among the followers of the national sport, especially over the exclusion of Sancti Spiritus slugger Frederich Cepeda.

Self-Employment & Private Capitalism: Not the Same Thing

The expression “self-employed workers who hire workers” is a negation in itself. “Self-employed” doesn’t begin with the word “self” by mere chance; it is work carried out by oneself, for the sustenance of oneself and one’s family. It does not involve the exploitation of other people’s wage labor, as a norm, and nor does it entail working for someone else.

Wikileaks and Freedom of the Press

One of the principal acts evidenced by the leaks made public by the NGO —whose most visible member is the organization’s Australian director, Julian Assange— is the policy of the American occupation troops and their allies in systematically covering up the deaths of innocent civilians.