The carnival area has been reduced considerably because half of the broad ocean drive has been blocked off and fitted with grand stands, where, for a price, you can watch the floats, masquerades or any other artistic attraction, enjoying the show away from the boisterous crowds that populate Cuba’s carnivals.
Read MoreOsvaldo Dorticos Torrado was the last president of the Republic of Cuba, the title for the nation’s highest authority used in the five constitutions Cubans ratified up to 1976, when the sixth constitution – the first openly declaring the country’s socialist system – was approved. We know nothing of how Dortico’s conscience fared in the legal limbo Cuba fell into, and has yet to come out of, since the triumph of the revolution.
Read MoreWe won’t know anything new about the North Korean vessel caught with a shipment of Cuban sugar and armaments until the inspectors sent to Panama issue their report. In the meantime, however, we can ask and try to answer a number of questions, in order to divest the incident of all sensationalism and get a bit closer to the truth.
Read MoreCuban economist Juan Valdes Paz concludes part two of our interview with another powerful statement: “Economically speaking, Cuba is a ruined enterprise. However, for the vast majority of the population, the revolutionary project – independence, justice and development – is the country’s only means of salvation in today’s hostile world.”
Read MoreThe Ninth Congress of the Cuban Journalists Association (UPEC) has ended. Judging from the information published by the official media, under the direct control of the Cuban Communist Party, we can expect very few changes in the country’s official journalistic environment.
Read MoreProfessor Juan Valdes Paz’ opening remarks for his interview with HT were a bombshell: “Cuba’s current leadership will have walked away from the historical stage with a minimum sense of achievement if it manages to encourage the creation of a viable and sustainable economic system for the country.”
Read MoreI suspect that the many people in Cuba who do not read the papers, choosing to alienate themselves with The Voice – Kids or pirated TV shows from abroad, will be unaware of the Cuban president’s rather surprising speech on Sunday.
Read MoreThough Pinar del Rio’s El Globo proved a safe and quiet environment, I could not help but notice that the hotel is in shambles. There is no running water in the rooms, many suites are closed and the food offer is extremely limited. The staff is immensely kind, but there is very little they can actually do to make one’s stay more pleasant.
Read MoreWhen I write of the “weathered” streets of Pinar del Rio, I am thinking, not of the effects of climate, but about the onslaught of time itself, about the “implacable passage of time, the time that passed”, to quote songwriter Pablo Milanes.
Read MoreThe grocer at the bodega on my block, a man well liked in our neighborhood, has put up a sign which reads: “Notice: Anyone making purchases with 50 or 100-peso bills must show me their photo ID. No exceptions.” Asking around, I found out the man had been paid with a fake one-hundred peso note, yet another victim of the invasion of counterfeit money Havana is experiencing.
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