On December 24 I wrote a post entitled “An empty chair,” where we celebrated the fifth Christmas without the presence of Adolfo Fernandez Sainz, prisoner since the Black Spring* of 2003. Today, the table laid, waiting for the family, my son asks me increasingly uncomfortable questions about when Adolfo will come back.  Meanwhile Julita, his… Continue reading The stubborn empty chair

This unique reality in which we live helps a lot when it comes to writing literature. Each small detail of our everyday life breathes fantasy, fiction and paradox. From there we read a selection of stories, such as Male Heifers and Other Absurdities by Angel Pérez Cuza, a walk through the injustices of every day.… Continue reading Male heifers and cow suicide

The echo of drums announcing the imminent sale of computers, DVD players and other appliances, has come to my ears.  Like other recent rumors, the “bang-bang” begins abroad, but in my neighborhood shops nobody knows anything about the “technological onslaught.”  Despite so much despair for the changes that failed, I believe that yes, the ban… Continue reading Who’s last in line for the toasters?

With this mix of comedy and tragedy that we use to deal with everything that happens to us, a group of bloggers and Cuban computer experts have opened a blog on the same platform.  It is something like a hideout for all those internet rustlers in Cuba, for the renegades who escape from the warden… Continue reading Wild pony makes a run for it

Those of us who today are under forty had to be like the young man in the painting by Raúl Martínez, a hybrid of a man and a social model.  We would rest our chins in our hands and, surrounded by brilliant colors, we would watch a time of conquests and justice.  However, the resulting… Continue reading Sonata for a “new man”

For several years I’ve been noticing that we’ve stopped using such conciliatory words as “excuse me,” “pardon me” and “I’m sorry.” When we put our foot in our mouth, we would rather blame clumsiness than admit our failure. Into that absurd “code of national male-chauvinism,” with laughable phrases such as “a real man doesn’t drink… Continue reading The words fade away

With the intent of shaking off the disillusionment of February 24th, and to dispel the expectation/frustration that these days have left me with, I decided to go to the movies.  A Polish film from the ‘70s that was playing at the Chaplin Cinema seemed ideal for avoiding the streets of Havana with all their conformity… Continue reading The truths of Zanussi

Raúl Castro’s speech at the inauguration of his new post as President of the Council of State has not cleared up my already-chronic doubts. The repeated mention of changes to come, but without detailing them, and of the prohibitions that are going to be eliminated – although for the moment without specifying them – have… Continue reading Looking for the Rosetta Stone

I haven’t been able to sleep since three o’clock in the morning.  The phone started ringing within minutes of when Granma posted the latest thoughts of Fidel Castro.  From that moment I could not go back to bed.  It is difficult to think clearly when you get up before the crack of dawn, so I… Continue reading By candlelight

In this environment where disagreement abounds, stretches and shrinks, where there is the competition to arrive first and so many other pretenses that create division, confrontation and suspicion, it comes as a balm that a group of Cubans – a team from Pinar del Río – chooses to live together, to shelter and strengthen the… Continue reading Coexistence