When Cuban athletes face competitors from any capitalist country (especially the United States, and even more so if the sport is baseball) it’s hardly a simple sporting event. It’s a confrontation between socialist sports and capitalist sports.
Read MoreYesterday I got up early as always, but I guess I was moving more quickly than usual, since by 6:50 I was already at the bus stop to see if I could get the 7 a.m. bus and save myself the trouble of hitchhiking, or the 2 pesos for a collective horse-drawn taxi.
Read MoreIn Cuba these days we are seeing concerts in support of the Revolution, ceremonies of patriotic demands at workplaces, fiery statements in the press by readers, and speeches by those who remind people they mustn’t yield – “not even an inch.”
The siege mentality returns in the face of the “foreign threat” —embodied this time by the United States and the European Union— which in words of Raul Castro have launched an “enormous smear campaign against Cuba.”
Read MoreWhenever the final stage of the baseball championships gets here, I always wonder the same thing: Why can’t we Cubans discuss the other truly monumental issues that also affect our lives in the same continuous and open way…with the same passion?
Read MoreCarlos always tries to participate in the meetings of his CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution) and in the Report-back Assemblies of his community delegate (representative to the city council). He feels these are the appropriate places for raising the problems he suffers as a citizen of this country, as opposed to making simple comments to kill time at a bus stop.
Read MoreFrom their altitude, Silvio and Pablo, with their recent clear and strong calls for fundamental changes in our society, again give strength to the trapped, decimated, troubled, but always faithful and revolutionary, generation of ’68. They, together with the forces of positive change, would be invincible, because they are recognized, trusted voices of our generation.
Read MoreHow can you achieve change when there is no real dialogue, not even among revolutionaries themselves; or when they don’t give space in the country’s only press to the opinions of communists and revolutionaries who promote a socialist perspective different from the failed official outlook; or when they reject other writings dealing with those issues?
Read MoreSunday I went for a drive around the city. Lenin Park and the Escaleras de Jaruco were packed with people. In the food-stands were roast pork and fish (all sold in national currency); all around was music playing, people drinking rum and beer, and children taking turns to ride the horses.
Other Cubans took advantage of the weekend to experience their true passions: going out to dance, or to the beach, exploring caves, diving in the reefs, fishing on the coast, or maybe playing baseball, racing cars or organizing cock fights.
Read MoreI’ve known Pavel since childhood, and we’ve always gotten along well although our lives are very different. I was born and raised in the Vibora Park neighborhood and I graduated with a University career. He was born and raised in a solar (tenement alley) in Central Havana and he graduated from a Trade School as a lathe operator.
Read MoreIn his most recent public speech on Sunday, President Raul Castro urged youth to make use of debate and to accept differences of opinion as a means to advance the construction of socialism.
Is it possible to disagree with certain decisions and policies outlined by the Cuban leaders while continuing to be on the side of the Revolution? Do you think the leaders in fact fear disagreement? Up to what point could differences of opinion advance or reverse the Cuban effort to build socialism?
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