Hearing the words of Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, in response to Bush’s speech, left me somewhat confused. I learned from him that in our country today, “There are 602 Youth Clubs with more than 7000 computers that provide free Internet access to over two million Cubans per year.” How stupid have I been!… Continue reading Some inconsistencies

My son’s teacher announced that among the students there is one who – while remaining incognito – is on a list of those who misbehave. What these children are experiencing is the paralysis that is generated by the sense of being watched, the fear of provoking denunciation. For now, the “whiff” of being a bad… Continue reading I suspect, you suspect, all we suspect

My son’s teacher announced that among the students there is one who – while remaining incognito – is on a list of those who misbehave.  What these children are experiencing is the paralysis that is generated by the sense of being watched, the fear of provoking denunciation.  For now, the “whiff” of being a bad… Continue reading I suspect, you suspect, we all suspect

That impertinent coarse boy, the protagonist of our jokes, to whom it’s the same thing to be rebellious as to be wicked, is too quiet these days. Pepito has been the “pinch of pepper” that has made us laugh until we cry; we have put in his mouth what we don’t dare say, and through… Continue reading Where’s Pepito?

Over the weekend a book fair was held in the city, a good idea to break the cultural listlessness that overtakes Havana in the late summer. The Paseo del Prado and the areas around the Capitol where filled with tents, music and a public eager to see the new titles and alarmed at the cost… Continue reading The long list of the excluded

I promised myself I wouldn’t be bothered by the results of a study by U.S. scientists and others at the University of Cienfuegos, on the positive effects on our physical health generated by the Special Period.* As statistics can prove almost anything, it is not worth the pain to attack the falsification of the low… Continue reading Happy hearts

After the deluge of emails that I have received I will have to change the end of my post from “Art Blogética” and in place of, “I survive because I post,” I will have to write, “I survive because I post and because you read me.” To all the friends who have written me recently… Continue reading Solidarity reaches me

This is a Log that jumps around and is intermittently delayed like the route 174 that passes through Rancho Boyeros Avenue. If you want to ride on this bus and go with it along the tangled way that each post must take before it arrives online, then let’s go. I warn you that all the… Continue reading The Blogger’s Art

What ways we Cubans have to learn what’s going on! We have learned to read between the lines, to treat every new piece of information with suspicion, and to doubt the men in formal suits on the news. When a headline appears announcing “the service… is restored,” that is two pieces of news in one:… Continue reading The half-news

The latest Reflections* of Fidel Castro have ended my patience. What annoys me most is not the rehabilitation of Milosevic, condemned by history and by men, but the total indifference he shows to our problems in continually focusing his commentaries on international themes and his leading role. Why not reflect about the discouragement and dissatisfaction… Continue reading Multiplied by zero