Search results for: 63 measures

I Eliécer Avila Perez, father of Eliecer Avila Cicilia, desire to make public that at 9:30 AM on April 24, 2012, an Official from State Security, Manuel Sosa Lozada, met with me on the premises occupied by the administrator of Servi CUPET Puerto Padre. Following is a summary of the salient features of the conversation: … Continue reading “Eliecer Avila’s Father Denounces Cuban State Security’s Threats to Him and His Son / Eliécer Ávila”

No one denies that the great information media, especially those with a global reach, often reflect the influences of the economic-political circles of power that lead, plan and cause the principal international events. But it is also true that no one can control all global information. And citizens who, today, are the race of the … Continue reading “The Machinery of Information / Eliécer Avila”

A journalist, writing about traffic accidents, said that Cuba has one of the lowest rates — 6.5 deaths per hundred thousand inhabitants — and adds that, since 1963 there is a downward trend. I do not question his statistics but, to better understand them, it is necessary to consider some factors that are obvious. In … Continue reading “Statistics / Fernando Dámaso”

It’s daylight robbery. Every time a Cuban residing abroad decides to visit their home country, the must pay a crude ‘revolutionary tax’ to the Castro brothers government. Let’s get out the calculator. In 2012 nearly 400,000 Cuban emigrants visited the island. Before unpacking the plasma TVs, computers, video games and smartphones for their relatives, all … Continue reading “Emigration is Good Business for the Cuban Government / Iván García”

All societies require changes. Cuba, trapped in the past half century, requires not only changes but major changes. In the last three years the government has dictated some important steps but that importance lies not in their scope — quite limited of course — but in the government’s need to undertake transformations and to break … Continue reading “Back to Square One / Dimas Castellanos”

Social processes have an often unpredictable alchemy. Although there are analysts who persist in wanting to write a universal formula for uprisings, or another for civil peace, reality is wedded to the contrary. Cuba, for example, has defied the prognostications of nearly all the optimists and exceeded the expectations of even the most hallucinatory minds. … Continue reading “The Bodies of the Martyrs Would Be Borne by Us / Yoani Sánchez”

On June 20 I received news that has caused me pain. I refer to what we call “the pain of others,” caused by the actions of others and that, involuntarily, moves one to feel a certain mix of compassion and shame for the protagonists. The information, which came to me via a text message on … Continue reading “The Pain of Others / Miriam Celaya”

Timid colored awnings spring from nowhere and under newly opened umbrellas fruit smoothies and pork rinds are sold, while the doorways of some homes are turned into improvised snack bars with striking menus. All this and more is growing in the streets of my city because of the new flexibility for self-employment. Some of my … Continue reading “Rebirth of Flavors / Yoani Sánchez”