David Canela

A few years ago, the statue of Austrian composer Johann Strauss Jr. disappeared from a small park located on the corner between Linea and G streets here in Havana. At that time I naively thought that the sculpture of the “the king of waltz” had been removed for restoration purposes.

What bothers me is the fact that fairs of such proportions are being repeated in the space provided by La Cabaña, one of the most sinister prisons in the history of Cuba from its construction in the 18th century until the end of the 1970s.

Recently the Granma newspaper published a surprising fact, which made me question if Cuba could still be considered an agricultural country. Incredibly, it’s easier to eat an imported apple here than a guanabana.

Apparently, taking a simple photo in a public place in Cuba represents a threat to state security, as if it were a bomb or a massive riot. This leads me to pose some problems. The first is that of freedom, and its unequal interpretation with respect to the rights of citizens and foreigners.