Saturday night I’m yawning in front of a boring cops-and-robbers thriller on TV.  The phone rings and it’s Adolfo,* who is still behind bars since a tantrum of power condemned him in the Black Spring* of 2003.  He sounds upset.  Some quasi-literate jailers are preventing him from receiving the books and magazines brought by his… Continue reading Who’s afraid of books?

She was going to be called Gea and she would come to relieve Teo of the burden of being the only child in the house. With her I might once again have prepared pureed malanga, boiled bottles in the night and washed loads of diapers.  But thinking better of it, Gea remained the desire of… Continue reading Uterus on strike

August and September have been a tough test for the long-awaited economic reforms, which appear to have been shipwrecked even before weighing anchor.  “You have to have confidence in the management of Raúl Castro” exhorted my friend on seeing my persistent distrust.  “Soon they are going to implement new measures,” the same lady assured me,… Continue reading The original sin

A character with a fat neck and briefcase in hand appears every Wednesday in the humorous “Let me tell you,” in same space where Professor Chicken Mind, already described in this Blog, releases his platitudes of dilettante wisdom.  Incompetent Lindoro is the director of an inefficient company and has a car registered to the State… Continue reading Incompetent Lindoro

  The principal Cuban television meteorologist, Jose Rubiera, announced that no new tropical storm or hurricane has formed in the Atlantic ocean.  The relief spread across the one hundred and eleven thousand square kilometers of this island.  At least for a few days, the cyclone corridor that we have become will take a break.  This… Continue reading Calm in the Atlantic

Those who have plans to travel to Cuba in the coming months and would like to show their solidarity by helping, I recommend bringing in your luggage a few kilograms of supplies to deliver directly to the victims.  While anything can help those families that have lost their possessions, there are certain things and resources… Continue reading How can I help?

  Havana was already under a hurricane warning when I returned on Sunday after a tour of Pinar del Río.  Rarely has it given me so much pleasure to see the elevated bridges of 100th Street and Boyeros than after seeing the procession of structures destroyed in the west.  On both sides of the highway… Continue reading Scorched earth

My grandmother hid your image in the lining of her bra while my mother was still burdened with the mask of atheism.  We girls of the house learned to venerate you without knowing your name, entranced with the golden splendor of your cape.  Before knowing what to call you in one religion or another, we… Continue reading Cachita

  The images of the disaster left by Gustav in the west of the country play across the screen.  Somber faces in front of houses that couldn’t stand against gusts of more than two hundred kilometers per hour.  In the midst of the tears and anxiety the national television reporters have managed to extract phrases… Continue reading To lose it all

I don’t know how to take it, but September 4 I am one year older,  more impertinant and more blogger.