For almost a day the Comment Zone in the Spanish (i.e. the original) version of Generation Y has not been working.  This public square has accumulated such a huge number of opinions from its readers—more than three hundred thousand—that the database finally collapsed.  We should be happy for all the debate that occurs in these… Continue reading Psychotherapy

To mark the half century since the first of January 1959, we Cubans could buy, through the ration system, half a pound of ground beef.  The sense of humor that frequently saves us from neurosis did not spare the unexpected delicacy which was baptized as “the picadillo sent by Chavez,” an allusion to the obvious… Continue reading Celebration and mincemeat

Andy is one of those who doesn’t wait.  He had a mobile phone when they were only for foreigners, bought an apartment at the margin of the obsolete housing law and sells—since last year—the toasters the newspaper Granma announced for 2010.  He wanders around to the large stores that sell in convertible pesos and offers… Continue reading A step forward

In this impressionistic picture I make of my reality, often I don’t give the precise color for each event.  The wide palette that makes the doubts, the disillusion and a certain haggard optimism, doesn’t have a shade that manages to represent the vacuum.  How do I draw the “nothing” that is lived for months on… Continue reading Absence of color

Hacker attacks are like those of the flu that hit us hard a couple times a year.  I thought that two weeks ago, when they attacked Generation Y and had it out of circulation for more than 24 hours.  It seems, however, that the colds are frequent and cause more than a simple fever. Penúltimos… Continue reading More than the flu

The portal Desde Cuba, where this blog and others are housed, has come out with its statistics.  Even though I don’t put too much stock in the numbers, the fact is that the data are too good to hide.  I still believe that most of the people I meet in the street who tell me… Continue reading Charts and figures

I had not yet been born in April 1961, when the socialist character of the Cuban process was declared.  “This is the socialist revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble…” Fidel Castro announced near the foreboding gates of the Colon Cemetery.  Many who listened to him, jubilant and optimistic, assumed that… Continue reading The humble

When the eighth leak appeared in the dining room ceiling, you accepted the mission to go to Venezuela as a doctor.  You knew that with each month’s salary you’d never have been able to tear out the paneling and replace the worn out columns.  Also, the resale of some appliances you bought there would help… Continue reading Missions

We keep a wary eye out for anyone who might approach our children lecherously, but few think to maintain the same vigilance in the face of the child abuse that focuses on minds rather than bodies.  The distortion of Cuban education to put ideology above all has reached an alarming point, even for those of… Continue reading Abused