Search results for: The New Man

Between the 2nd and 3rd of November in the Taganana salon of the ancient Hotel Nacional, within walking distance of Havana’s waterfront, works from the giants of Cuban art were auctioned off. The sale, which took in some $600,000, was a part of the tenth edition of the Havana Auction, an annual art auction on … Continue reading “National Heritage: Who Gives More? / Iván García”

A stone’s throw from the corner of Galiano and Reina streets, huddle some twenty movable stalls. After nine on the morning, Rodobaldo, a tall and lanky man from Guantanamo without a permit to live in Havana, opens his junk shop where he sells T-shirts for 7 convertible pesos, girls’ sandals for five, and Nike tennis … Continue reading “Havana and Its Moveable Shops / Iván García”

What was that object? What purpose was served by its polished surface, its rounded shape? Why did Grandma keep it at the bottom of a drawer with her most intimate clothes and some letters written to her half a century earlier by her first boyfriend? My sister and I occasionally stole the box — lined … Continue reading “Red Christmases / Yoani Sánchez”

It came carefully wrapped in a page of the newspaper Granma, but bore no relation to that official organ of the Communist Party of Cuba. The dull wrapping was just camouflage, the mask under which a copy of The Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel was hidden. The friend who first brought it into … Continue reading “Vaclav Havel: Without Fake Covers / Yoani Sánchez”

Like all the airports in the world, ours is impersonal, stressful, glass and aluminum on all sides. Once in a while the door to customs opens and someone comes out with their luggage wrapped in cellophane. The waiting family members scream, tears running down their faces, the newcomer is flushed with emotion. Meanwhile, on the … Continue reading “My Suitcase is Packed / Yoani Sánchez”

None of the classics of Marxism-Leninism could foresee the possibility that a country formally declared as socialist would be governed by a family dynasty. But now we get the news (?) after the death of Kim Jong Il that the leadership of that country will be left in the hands of his third son, Kim … Continue reading “Dynastic Socialism / Reinaldo Escobar”

You turned six and were already waiting for your neck scarf, the slogan “Pioneers for communism, we will be like Che.” Later, you started high school and, automatically, without anyone asking you, joined the Federation of High School Students (FEEM). As you continued to grow up, you ironed your skirt and under your uniform blouse … Continue reading “The Federation of Cuban Women Can’t Reinvent Itself / Yoani Sánchez”