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Ahmed explains that it is not obligatory to wear clothing typical of Arab countries, but prophets dressed in this way and so many do. The same applies to the beard and the custom of wearing a head covering. “Because we are Muslims, our religion accepts that we can have more than one wife, as long as the husband can support them and the first wife agrees.” But he clarifies that, respecting Cuban customs, they do not permit marriages involving minors.

Among the customs, in addition to the clothes and the beard, some carry a kind of toothbrush called a “siwak,” made from the branch of a tree that grows on the Arabian Peninsula. Besides having therapeutic qualities, its use is recommended during the days of Ramadan.

This year, 1437 of the Hegira, the month of Ramadan began on 6 June and starting at dawn Muslims fast every day. They do not ingest solids or liquids, nor do they smoke or have sexual relations. Contrasted to what might be defined as a stereotype of the ordinary Cuban, it seems difficult to adopt this religion. However, every day more people do so. Women have a space for themselves separated from that of the men, and children scamper on the carpet of the spacious lounge, where it is an understandable requirement to remove your shoes.

“This is like a hospital,” says Abdul Karim, a young man who earns a living as a self-employed bricklayer. “We all have something that we must heal and Allah only asks for our submission to offer us spiritual peace.” His affirmation is evident when a young man whom everyone indulges appears in the mosque. They call him “the Russian” and he says he was a prince in Great Britain, that he speaks 25 languages and that Islam “came to Cuba with Christopher Columbus who was Muslim.”

The Muslims gathering here identify as Sunnis. In the Lawton neighborhood there is another place where the Shias go. The differences don’t generate conflicts, although those in Old Havana don’t recognize as Muslims those in Lawton, and vice versa, but “the blood doesn’t reach the river.”

Staring at 7 in the evening, just before dark, the flow of the faithful becomes more intense. At one point the loudspeakers are heard reciting the Koran in Arabic. Everyone approaches the wall at the side of the building facing Mecca, and gathers in front of a picture where the name of Allah is inscribed. They sit there, alternately leaning over and standing as the ritual demands.

When the sun outside has hidden itself, some sit at the tables, other on the floor, and they begin to share a dinner. Rice with beans, salad, sweet potatoes and lamb meat. In addition there are bread, dates and canned soda. According to what this newspaper was told, the costs of this ceremony are borne by the Saudi Arabian embassy in Cuba, which also made the largest initial investment to convert what was once an old car museum into an air-conditioned and well-lit mosque, with carpets and tapestries.

Like everything that happens in Cuba, Islamic activities are observed with a mixture of respect and suspicion. Lazaro Fresneda, a opponent of the government who turned to Islam several years ago and who answers to the name Abdul Radman, feels that there are always men snooping around who have “a tint of being people associated with the apparatus.” He says that during President Obama’s visit to Havana the mosque was closed and adds that recently Rene Gonzalez appeared there, he is one of the five Cuban intelligence agents who were released from the sentences they were serving in the United States. “He said he prayed with the Muslims in prison, but I did not shake his hand.”

The graying beard of Mohamed Alzain gives the impression of having been with him a long time, but he says it has only been a year since he last shaved. In response to the observation that he keeps his mustache, he smiles and says, “sometimes I forget to cut it.” He recalls that he was an official in the Armed Forces when he started to feel a religious inclination. “At that time,” he recalls, “being in the military was not consistent with believing in God, but in the Congo, where I served an internationalist mission, the Muslims believe in Islam from birth, as did their most remote ancestors. I had never seen any part of such a pure religion.”

Shortly before ten at night the faithful begin to retire. Tuesday they will continue the fast, unless they are ill; pregnant women, children and those who are traveling for more than three days are also exempted. They are counting the days until 6 July, when Ramadan will conclude “Cuban-style” and then they will celebrate with a big party.

Darío Machado’s article introduces a variant: “It behooves the entire country to create an atmosphere of discussion and to stimulate wide social participation in the broadest democracy.” In support of this he evokes the debate of the “Call to the 6^th Party Congress” and other similar processes whose results, he argues, “were decisive in the strengthening of the political consensus of the socialist revolution.”

It may not be idle to recall that the author of this article, the son of Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, was the person designated as the auditor of the American Studies Center (CEA) where, 20 years ago, Raul Castro, in the 5^th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, lambasted the intellectuals who worked there, calling them nothing less than fifth columnists.

Given the credentials of the writer – completely above suspicion – it is appropriate to highlight some of his assertions. The most striking is his thesis that the text of the conceptualization of the Cuban economic and social model “should not be understood as something finished, but as ‘the theory’ [the commas are the author’s] of the construction of socialism in Cuba.” He then clarifies that these ideas are enriched by the debate and “putting them into practice” will continue “the process of theorizing about the construction of a socialist-oriented society in Cuban conditions.”

Fifty-five years after the socialist character of the Revolution was proclaimed, Dario Machado is trying to convince Cubans that it is still not time to have a theory of socialism based on their own experiences to clarify how socialism should be defined in Cuba.

Now that this intellectual has explained that Conceptualization is not trying to be ‘the theory,’ one can understand why in this document there is nothing about the first conquest of the socialist system, which is eliminating the exploitation of man by man, nor does it tell us that this is one stage of the transition to a communist society and it doesn’t even say, in a transparent and comprehensible way, if the country is still in or has already emerged from the “Special Period in times of peace.”

Opening the debate to anyone who wants to participate could be risky for those who want to restrict the discussion to points related to “how to construct socialism in Cuba.” Outside of the Party nucleus or its base committees or the UJC, someone could appear to question, from Marxist positions, the proposed models and others, from the opposite poles, might question whether it makes sense to continue the attempt.

Finally, Dario Marchado establishes a doubtful dilemma, placing on one side “the pretensions of reinstalling in Cuba dependent capitalism,” and on the other “the salvation of the Revolution, of our independence and sovereignty.” The enunciation of a dilemma doesn’t mean it exists.

It is not an abuse of the imagination to elaborate this other. One on side are the pretensions of a group of people to remain in power forever, and on the other the desire of an entire people to conquer the civil, political and economic rights that the current system represses. The discussion of which is the real dilemma would be a useful debate.

The Cuban capital figures on the list of 1,200 aspirants from 220 countries that competed for the grandiloquent epithet. Online voting put the city among the 77 finalists, which were reduced to 28 official candidates by a commission of experts.

Successive selections ended to the pleasure of a cabal of seven cities, like musical notes, the principal colors, the seas and the sins. Along with Havana the cities are Beirut (Lebanon), Doha (Qatar), Durban (South Africa), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), La Paz (Bolivia) and Vigan (Philippines).

The big winners are the tour guides who, from air-conditioned buses, tell foreign visitors the history of the taking of Havana by the English and describe to them in epic tones El Morro lighthouse guarded by the fortress of La Cabana. In these stories, Havana’s “wonder” status blocks the view of everyday problems and improves the tips that end up in their pockets.

These chroniclers of a city that lives only in the pages of Lonely Planet consider it an impertinence to note that on the day the designation was made official rainfall occasioned a building collapse in Central Havana while in the ration stores in the Cerro and Marianao neighborhoods people were buying 11 ounces of “chicken for fish*” and there was an extended power failure in Vedado.

None of the guides will tie the unexpected award to the celebration this year of the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party, nor to the presence of the country’s president on the list of the seven oldest presidents in the world.

José María, a young hustler who knows a few phrases in several languages and specializes in dating tourists, was on the Malecón on Tuesday at the time appointed to unveil the plaque. He hoped to engage in some “business” with foreigners passing along the esplanade, but only found a small group of officials headed by Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal Spengler.

Under a piece of cardboard in lieu of an umbrella, José María heard the phrase of the city historian: “You have to have eyes to see the wonder.” Then the committee left in official cars and the young man “captured” a couple of tourists to whom he described the wonderful cigars, for a wonderful price, which he kept at home “very near here,” so that they could smoke them in this wonderful city the official guides don’t talk about.