Stories about Cuba from August, 2008
Cuba: Punk Rocker Arrested
As several bloggers voice their outrage at the arrest of Cuban punk rocker Gorki Aguila, Havana-based Generation Y claims: “They took him because nothing destabilizes the intransigents more than a man in his most free state.”
Barbados, Cuba: Broadcasting Meeting
Bajan Global Report reports on the Prime Minister's trip to Cuba to attend the 39th General Assembly of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, an organization which supports and promotes high quality work of regional radio and TV entities – but Barbados Free Press calls it “irony defined”: “We are disappointed that...
Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Cuba: Olympic Medals
Caribbean Beat Blog congratulates Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago on their gold and silver medals in the Men's 4 x 100 Relay, while Child of the Revolution thinks that “Fidel Castro won’t be happy” with the Cuban Olympic medal count.
Bahamas, Cuba: Inconvenient Truths?
“The Bahamas standard of living reflects the effect of free trade and a relatively limited government. Citizens here are still far better off than in many countries in the region and the world. However, every now and then The Bahama Journal editorialises about the virtues of Cuba. And frankly this...
Cuba: Corrupt Survival
“At his young age, he already understands that it doesn’t matter how many times you cross the line of illegality as long as you keep applauding. For him, if they let him continue to line his pockets, socialism could well be eternal”: Yoani Sanchez blogs about corruption and its strong...
Cuba, U.S.A.: Watching the Games
“Cuba is a sports-loving country, and interest extends beyond the island’s participation, to that of athletes from other latitudes”: Circles Robinson writes about the experience of watching the Olympics from Havana, adding that “there could be nothing more diametrically opposed than Olympics sports coverage in Cuba and the United States.”
Cuba: Domestic Tourism
“In the absence of tourist offices where a Cuban citizen can arrange – in Cuban pesos – an excursion in his own country, private resourcefulness has addressed this ‘market niche'”: Yoani Sanchez visits Soroa “on a trip coordinated by one of these emerging ‘tour operators'”.
Cuba, U.S.A.: Fay Warning
“Kerosene lamps? Check. Gallons of water? Check. Transistor radio? Batteries? Check. Candles? Check. I'm not gonna kid you, folks, it's still scary”: Cuban diaspora blogger Ninety miles away…in another country readies himself for the possible impact of Tropical Storm Fay.
Haiti, Cuba: Tropical Storm Fay
Haitian blog Pwoje Eswpa says that Tropical Storm Fay is beyond the island, but “we are drenched and the winds are still pretty strong”, while Cuban diaspora blogger Babalu is concerned about the approaching storm.
China: Boxing heavyweights!
MySpacer Dr. O spent last night watching the super heavyweight boxing matches. Algeria's coach got kicked out. Legendary Cuban boxing star Teófilo Stevenson was there! See it all in Dr. O's video and photos and: “The last big kick of the night was the Chinese Zhang Zhilei – all 6'7″...
Cuba, U.S.A.: Trading Partners
Child of the Revolution reports that “newly-released figures confirm what many of us have known for some time” – that the US trade restrictions on Cuba are really “not much of an embargo”.
Cuba: Birthday Candles
Child of the Revolution notes that “every August 13 without fail, the official Cuban media celebrates Fidel Castro’s birthday by trying to come up with ever more ridiculous ways to describe the man who ruled his 11 million subjects with an iron fist for close to half a century.” Yoani...
Cuba: Castro Supports Russia
Child of the Revolution and The Cuban Triangle blog about Fidel Castro's reaction to the South Ossetia crisis.
Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba: First Olympic Medal
Caribbean Beat Blog congratulates Cuba for being the first regional territory to bring home an Olympic medal, and notes that “there are still high hopes, particularly in track and field, for the region's best standing on the winners’ podium over the next two weeks.”
Cuba: Is it worth it?
Yoani Sanchez examines Cuba's new proposal for higher pensions and uses the case of a soon-to-be-retired schoolteacher to show how inequitable the system is: “To put it as crudely as it deserves, this woman will now work five years longer and in return, when she finally leaves the workforce, she...
Cuba, China: Politics & Sport
“I consider myself a fan of the Olympics…this time around, I just can't get excited about the Games”: Cuban blogger 26th Parallel thinks that the Chinese regime is “as oppressive as the smog that's covering Beijing.”
Barbados: Let the Games Begin
“Barbados had its flag raising ceremony on Wednesday…no mention of it was placed on the Barbados Olympic Association’s website. Why? Difficulties getting info from out of China. Yet I found links on the web on Jamaica and Cuba’s flag raising ceremonies”: Bajan Global Report thinks that “there is no reason...
Cuba: Role of the Media
As one Havana-based blogger, Circles Robinson, is optimistic about Cuban media charting a new course, another, Yoani Sanchez, criticizes the media's complacency in reporting on issues like domestic violence: “How can a woman, who flees home to avoid the fists of her husband, know how to find a refuge where...
Cuba: Hunger Strike Over
Uncommon Sense reports that four Cuban political prisoners have ended their hunger strike.
Cuba, Venezuela: Sound Familiar?
Cuban blogger Babalu thinks that the latest decrees by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sound awfully familiar…
Cuba: Hunger Strike
“It is a small action…it has not made the international press”: Ninety miles away…in another country reports on a hunger strike undertaken by four political prisoners in Cuba.
