Pilar Montes

Lines at Cuba’s Banks and State Offices

Cuban filmmaker Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti recently told the BBC that, “unlike the rest of the world, going to a bank in Cuba right now can be a highly traumatic experience.” Endless lines of people, power cuts, problems with the “server” and inhumane treatment can make customers waste an entire morning.

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Standing in Line for Transportation in Cuba

The lines Cubans stand in while waiting to board city buses aren’t like other lines. To begin with, they never start at a fixed location. Those waiting in these lines must have eagle eyes and enough of an athletic disposition to run like hell when needed.

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Waiting in Line for Cuba’s Healthcare Services

Most visitors to the island marvel or are astonished at how often Cubans head down to the doctor’s office, polyclinic or hospital, even when they’re in good health. What they don’t know is that this is the only way Cubans can get the prescriptions they need…

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Big Bucks in Cuba’s Garbage Scams

The accounting department of Cuba’s garbage collection services is clearly riddled with cracks that high officials in the sector take advantage of. The latest case revealed, 10 months after the court sentences, over US $470,000 stolen.

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Cuba–US Relations: Which Court is the Ball In?

Only the most general aspects of the conversation Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro had on the afternoon of September 18 are known, but one needn’t have a crystal ball to be certain that the measures Washington had just announced to relax the embargo were the main topic of discussion.

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The Vatican and Cuba: A History of Ups and Downs

Pope Francis’ mediation in the negotiations that eased the nearly six-decade-old tensions between Cuba and the United States and the feat of re-establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries stretched out the red carpet for a visit to the island from the Holy See.

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