Opinion

Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza, is back home from the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and she says she “had a wonderful time” visiting several days with the soldiers as part of the U.S.O. Armed Forces Entertainment Tour.

In Cuba, baseball has ceased being a simple sport; it has been transformed into a question of principles. Around that sport encircle people’s expectations, frustrations and ideological fears. The games rouse passion, people scream, applaud, and protest – but they continue being only games.

The ideological validity of a country cannot be measured by an event in which people run, sweat, throw balls, and do or don’t hit homeruns. Nor is the patriotism of an individual measured by their batting average.

The World Baseball Classic is diverting my attention these days but there is still a buzzing in my head, wondering what has just happened in Cuba where the two youngest key figures in the government were removed in disgrace and numerous other changes were made.
—Like most Cubans and foreigners that follow events on the island, the fall of both on March 2nd, and their being accused of abusing their posts and pleasing the enemy, was not something to take lightly.

How can we evaluate our leaders? Where can you find the commentaries of specialists, essayists and critics that assess our representatives during a given period of time? In what paper, website or library can I find concrete data about an official’s performance? No, it’s nowhere; we have to rely on their superiors to evaluate them.

The winds of a new change have begun to blow from Washington. The phrase does not mean the dismantlement of the US political framework that has been in place up to now, but rather the adaptation to an alternative logic when fighting its “closest of enemies.” The underlying reasoning for a change in policy is that the logic of contact played a leading role in the deconstruction of socialism in Eastern Europe, where the Cold War was won “without firing a single shot.”

President Castro has been a strong supporter of strengthening Cuban institutions and his latest moves appear geared in that direction. In these times of world economic crisis, the measures and personnel changes made will hopefully protect Cuba from a harder impact.

After Mexico, the Latin American country with the greatest and deepest cultural ties with Cuba is probably Chile. That relationship, like all others, has its history. It was particularly intense during the government of Salvador Allende (1970-1973), when for the first time an electoral process brought a left-wing candidate to the presidency, a foreshadowing of events that would unfold in the region many years later.

The photo is an image very similar to those published in recent times and of others that we could find in any family album: a grandfather receiving a visit from one of his daughters or granddaughters. However, two small but striking details can be observed that make this photo somewhat different from previous ones.

For Russia, the strategic alliance means a revival of traditional links with Cuba, trade preferences and investment on the island. For Cuba, it represents much-needed economic and political support.
—As for the Cuban debt accumulated in the Soviet years, some Russian sources say this seems to be finally buried and forgotten, leaving a clean slate for this new stage in bilateral relations.