Miguel Arias Sanchez

A Former Cuban Dumpster Diver Tells his Story

Armando is an honest, hard-working and kind man. Anyone who speaks to him for the first time won’t believe that he lived a dangerous lifestyle for several years. He used to expose his body every day to whatever life could throw at him or, as we Cubans say, he used to go about tempting the devil.

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Sometimes an Effective Complaint Bears Results

In January, I wrote about a pothole in the middle of 19th street in Havana’s Bahia neighborhood. I wrote that neighbors had planted plants inside the pothole themselves so that people could see it from afar and be able to prevent an accident from taking place…

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Apululu, a Hopeless Alcoholic

It’s hard for rum to be missing in Cuba. Even in times of severe crisis, the only things you can easily find at state-run establishments are rum and cigarettes. Private businesses also find a way to always have alcoholic drinks on their menus.

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Racial discrimination in Cuba

The subject of racial discrimination in Cuba is a very delicate and thorny issue which has to be approached with a lot of care, so that there isn’t any confusion or people hurt. Here I will mention some aspects of the growing problem.

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Divers in Cuba and their Health

Anybody who hears the word “diver” has an image of a man dressed in a wet suit, a mask on his face and an oxygen tank pop into their back, a person who fishes or investigates the depths of the world’s seas. However, there is a new kind of diver in Cuba…

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Talking about Santeria in Cuba

Darnelys Dominguez Pino is 42 years old and works as an attendant at a sports center. He has been directly linked to the Afro-Cuban religion known as Santeria for many years. He is a man of few words who is concerned about the path his religion is taking.

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Indifference and Not Enough Inspections

Two days ago, I took the A-7 bus heading towards Guanabacoa. When I got on, I realized that the 50-something year old bus driver had a very beautiful young girl next to him inside his protection booth, the conversation seemed to be quite pleasant as they were both bursting into laughter.

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