I still remember the odor of the gas masks we wore, running to the shelter in military practice during primary school.  My classmates and I came to fear that one day we’d take shelter in the basement of some building, while outside the bombs fell.  Today, the city shows the traces of a constant attack,… Continue reading A macho discourse

In the list of the 25 Best Blogs of 2009, drawn up by Time Magazine and CNN, there are several elements that fill me with pride. Generación Y is the only blog on the list in Spanish, the same language that some believe incapable of adapting to the pace of technology and modernity.  I am,… Continue reading Six places from Sullivan

I skirt the edge of my building, avoiding walking under the balconies, because the kids throw condoms filled with urine to kill the boredom.  A man with his daughter is carrying a bag that’s dripping a mix of grease, water and blood.  They’re coming from the butcher’s, where the line announces that some rationed product… Continue reading Uncomfortable questions

Some days ago, at home, we watched the documentary Cuba Performance dedicated to the artistic work of the group Omni Zona Franca.  The room was filled with long-hairs, and even some foreign authors, guests of the Book Fair, climbed the fourteen flights of stairs.  Amaury, the protagonist of the film, wasn’t present because a few… Continue reading Cuba Performance

In a land surrounded by water, the sailor is the link to the other side, the bearer of images that the islander cannot leave to see.  In the case of Cuba, someone who works on a ship can also buy abroad many products unavailable in local markets.  A kind of Ulysses who, after months at… Continue reading Take me sailing on the wide sea*

Every day I run into someone who’s been disillusioned and has withdrawn their support for the Cuban process.  There are those who turn in their Communist Party cards and emigrate to their married daughters in Italy, or those who concentrate on the peaceful work of caring for their grandchildren and waiting in line for bread. … Continue reading Hourglass

Today at 3 in the afternoon we managed to present Orlando Luís Pardo Lazo’s book.   After sneaking through the alleys of Cerro to lose the two “securities” who were following us, we ended up at the Capitol and took a bus through the tunnel under the bay.  Tension, fear and doubt joined us on our… Continue reading Between the two walls

The Padilla case* and its grey consequences over Cuban culture have been perpetuated more than one can believe.  Almost four decades and it seems like not even a few minutes have passed.  Authors censored, books banned and exhibitions planned for reliable writers.  Culture in the hands of the institutions and a few deciding which texts… Continue reading 1971-2009: The Grey Millennium

I don’t want to let the days go by and continue the ingratitude of not speaking of the “selfless companions” who monitor the entrance to my building.  They, with their disproportionate sacrifice in the last weeks, have managed to limit the acts of vandalism which are so common on these fourteen floors.  No one has… Continue reading Gratitude and request

I know of books that have stigmatized their authors and of writers who project a dark shadow over their works.  Cases where the writer is as difficult as his texts seem to raise the question, which is hurt more by the other.  Orlando Luís Pardo Lazo has been the direct cause of the fact that… Continue reading Boring home