Last week the US Treasury Department announced it would allow exports to Cuba of software and Internet services such as instant messaging, e-mail, Web browsing and social networks. In response, the Cuban government lashed back saying this measure is part of a plan to destabilize the country and not one of loosening the economic blockade.
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Read MoreA friend, who works in a farm cooperative making her money honestly and living decently, told me she was concerned about constant pejorative criticisms alluding to “farmers who make money speculating with the people’s food.”
Read MoreCuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas has become a public figure thanks to a hunger strike he is waging over the demand for the release of a group of political prisoners the government describes as mercenaries. Havana Times invites our readers to share their opinions on the legitimacy of the hunger strike .
Read MoreMany of the people who had the good luck of seeing the documentary and who greatly enjoyed it, don’t like rap, in fact can’t even stand to listen to it for more than half an hour. Many of the people who pass CDs of Los Aldeanos from hand to hand, or from flash memory to flash memory – because these recordings aren’t produced by the State’s EGREM or by Colibri Studios or any of the other official studios in the country, nor are they sold in the stores – don’t even know what Hip Hop culture is. But you have to hear Los Aldeanos.
Read MoreWith people pushing me from behind, suddenly I was on the bus and pressed against a sweaty man, in fact my entire body was against his. There was no space to move and my hands were full, plus I couldn’t ask the man to move aside because he didn’t have any room either, and it was I who was standing pressed against him.
Read MoreThe political prisoners who began the strike with Coco have already changed their minds and have all begun eating again. He, however, is continuing. He has already gone into shock one time and it’s possible that by the time this posting is published he will be on the verge of suffering a second attack.
Read MoreCuban authorities have created uncertainty in the tourism market due to a new regulation announced earlier this week that all visitors must have a travel health insurance policy approved by or purchased from the Cuban government.
Read MoreThe most frustrating thing is not being subjected to a law that one doesn’t know about, but being subjected to it even after finding out it doesn’t exist. Yet the immense majority of people in our country don’t ask where the laws appear. It’s enough to tell them: “You can’t do that” or “You can’t go into this.”
Read MoreBoth the Cuban and US governments have seen it in their interests to continue their adverse relationship. For decades Cuban leaders have ranted against the US blockade and used it as a catchall excuse for internal problems of all sorts. Sometimes the justification is accurate, other times it’s a cover for a poorly designed economy and harsh internal controls. Meanwhile, back in the USA, countless US politicians have received and continue to receive campaign donations from the powerful Miami exile community.
Read MoreI returned to my house this past Monday after a meeting to nominate candidates to become delegates (municipal authorities) and reread an interview with sociologist Aurelio Alonso. He pointed out that the great challenge Cuba faces is institutionalizing the Revolution, making those institutions work, seeing that each person plays their role and moving the country forward as a united whole.
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