Luis Miguel del Bahia Archives

The Cubans Who Couldn’t See Obama

Ultimately, Barack Obama’s full speech was never rebroadcast on Cuba’s evening news, at a time of day when most Cubans could see it. The original, live broadcast was in the morning of a working day.

On Fumigation and Garbage in Havana

We have to acknowledge the efforts the State is making with its fumigation and public health campaigns. These huge sums of money, however, will continue to be flushed down the toilet until garbage collection units begin to do their job. (27 photos)

Reflections on the End

No matter where we look, everything seems to end in darkness, death and desolation. Does it really matter whether we die today, tomorrow or in 10 years? Does it, when the end is inevitable?

Looking Over the Wall from Havana

It may just be how the victors portray things, or West Germany may have actually been a bastion of freedom and a bright-colored world. Footage from the time shows East Germans enthralled by everything that took place on the other side of the wall.

An Assault on Freedom of Expression in Cuba

Two weeks ago, I saw something I’d never seen before: around eight men in Havana’s Parque Central, yelling “freedom” and “down with the dictatorship” while holding up cardboard signs bearing their demands.

Walled in New Apartments for Cuba’s Military

According to official discourse, we are a poor, blockaded country with few resources, and are unable to build all of the houses the people need. That said, our country is also just: we refuse to have a society where a few have a lot and the majority has nothing. A good part of this is a lie and I am going to prove it.

Stones against Tanks: On US Interventionism

Just about any extreme measure was justified within the context of the Second World War and the Cold War. At the time, geopolitical interests in Europe, Africa and Asia were still being defined. Both the Soviet Union and the United States did what they had to do to swell their ranks.

The Girl, her Girlfriend and the Wish to Leave Cuba

Some years ago, “M” started going out with a girl and all eyes in the neighborhood turned towards her. “X”., her partner, has been living in a very small house with four relatives, where she is forced to sleep in the living room, since she was five. M and X tell me they have been together for three years and love each other very much. M has a house with several bedrooms and lives only with her mother. The three lived together for a while until the mother-in-law remembered her social function and everything went downhill from there. Some measure of homophobia must have had a say in that.

Globalization: New Trends, New Mindsets

In one of the scenes of Coriolanus, a film based on Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name, a Roman general chastises the people for being devoid of honor and for having opinions that change with the winds.

Difficult Times

My girlfriend is a teacher. She earns 500 pesos and her salary is never enough. Her mother has to help the best she can. In August, she ran out of money near the first of the month. We survived by selling things.

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