· August, 2006

Stories about Cuba from August, 2006

Cuba: Raúl Castro's first appointment

  31 August 2006

Raúl Castro appears to have made his first official appointment, writes Luis M. Garcia: “analysts and Cuban watchers will have a field day over the next few hours with these latest news from Havana. Does it mean Raul is really in charge?“

Cuba: Between the lines

  30 August 2006

The Cuban news daily Granma reports that a Syrian ministerial delegation has been received in Cuba by Raul Castro — and Luis M. Garcia (and, presumably, other watchers of the Castro regime) try to figure out what it means: “We are a sad, pathetic bunch, I know … A bit...

Cuba: Sex tourism

  29 August 2006

Luis M. Garcia reports briefly on the Cuban government's irate response to “a Spanish academic who says as many as 200,000 Spaniards travel to Cuba every year to engage in what he politely termed turismo sexual.“

Cuba: Sweet 15

  18 August 2006

Robin Thom had the good fortune to be on the right balcony at the right time in order to capture this lovely scene on the Paseo de Prado in Havana, Cuba. “I had always assumed this was a wedding,” writes Robin on his Flickr page, “but it was pointed out...

Venezuela: Politics, Philosphy, and Gastronomy

  18 August 2006

Two more translated op-eds from Venezuela. Miguel Octavio has translated “Escape from Ramo Verde” by Teodoro Petkoff while Guillermo Parra has Héctor Silva Michelena's “The Postmodern Philosopher and the Human Vultures.” For those who believe Friday's aren't meant for politics and philosophy, Caracas Cafe says this is a good weekend...

Ahmadinejad's blog and Fidel Castro

According to the BBC, the launch of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s blog was reported on state TV, which urged users to send in messages to the president. Several magazines and newspapers around the world have already talked about Ahmadinejad’s blog. In his first, and so far only, post, Ahmadinejad talks...

Cuba, Paraguay: Stroessner & Castro

  18 August 2006

On the occasion of the death of Paraguayan dictator General Alfredo Stroessner, Luis M. Garcia draws parallels between the career of the General and that of Fidel Castro: “. . . here is an assessment of Stroessner (pictured), by a former US ambassador to Paraguay, George Landau: “He believed, as...

Cuba: On Castro's latest message

  17 August 2006

Divergent views on the most recent message from Fidel Castro, published in Granma this past Tuesday: Pastor Batista, from Las Tunas Cuba, said (ES) it “made millions of Cubans and people in other latitiudes VERY HAPPY,” while Luis M. Garcia questions Castro's referring to himself in the message as “Comandante...

Cuba: Fidel's Adidas jogging suit

  15 August 2006

Riffing off the Adidas jacket in which Fidel Castro was photographed this weekend, Luis M. Garcia mentions a friend who e-mailed to remind him that “when she was a teenager in Cuba – such capitalist attire was strictly forbidden at school. Wearing an Adidas t-shirt, let alone a jogging suit,...

Cuba: El Capitolio

  14 August 2006

Daniel Mauermann has a Flickr photoset of Cuba's capitol building in Havana, which is modeled after the one in Washington D.C.