Stories about Cuba from March, 2009
Cuba: Open Mic Night
Cubans Generation Y and Octavo Cerco blog about “an unforgettable night” in front of open microphones.
Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago: At the Summit
“It seems far-fetched to think that the summit’s news coverage would be dominated by the one country in the region that is absent from the event” – but The Cuban Triangle thinks that “two factors – a no-news summit agenda, and a vocal regional consensus calling on President Obama to...
Cuba: Antúnez Update
Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense says that the Cuban authorities have “taken its fight with…dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez) to a new, more frightening level.”
Cuba: Antúnez Surrounded
Uncommon Sense and Octavo Cerco share their thoughts on reports that the Cuban police “have surrounded the home of Cuban dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez), who for more than a month has [led] a hunger strike to protest abuses by the Castro dictatorship.”
Cuba: Detainees Freed
The previously detained Cuban photographer and musician have been released – Sunrise in Havana has the details.
Cuba: Reports of Detainment
Both Uncommon Sense and Sunrise in Havana blog about reports that a photographer and a musician have been detained in Cuba “after offering their show of solidarity in Placetas for political activist Jorge Luis Garcia Perez (Antunez).”
Cuba: The Black Cuban Woman
Havana Times republishes a mainstream media news article on a black, female Cuban blogger who writes about gender, sexual diversity and racism.
Cuba: Three Strikes
“The president of the Writers and Artists Union of Cuba…affirmed that all Cubans can travel, except those who have a debt to the justice system…I have never been charged in court yet I am condemned not to leave this Island”: Generation Y‘s exit permit has once again been denied.
Cuba: Interview with Blogger Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo
Claudia Cadelo interviews blogger Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo about his participation in the Cuban blogging community, which came to his side when his book "Boring Home" had originally been accepted by the state publishing house, but later rejected. He believes that the decision was made partly by his blogging activity. Many of the island's bloggers supported him during this difficult time and even organized an alternate book launch.
Cuba: Travel Permit
“I will sit in the crowded lobby of the mansion at 17th and K for only two reasons: to inconvenience them with my pigheadedness and to claim my rights. To show them the visa document that authorizes my entry to many parts of the world, while ‘they’ curb my travel”:...
Barbados: Tourism's Future
“A real need exists for tourism to have a clearer image and for it to be a beacon that pulls many parts of the economy along”: Living in Barbados wonders about the future of the island's tourism offering.
Cuba: Six Years After “Black Spring”
March 18-20 marks the sixth anniversary of the Cuban Black Spring. Cuban bloggers remember...
Cuba: Six Years After
Blog for Cuba maintains that six years after the island's Black Spring, “there has been no easing of the harsh repression of dissent in Cuba.”
Cuba: Reported Arrests
Blog for Cuba and Uncommon Sense both blog about dissident arrests on the island.
Cuba: Political Clarity
“The information to make an intelligent evaluation of Cuba’s civilian vs. military led economic performance, the pluses and minus of both, is simply not available to journalists or the general population”: The island's recent political reshuffle has left Circles Robinson hoping for some clarity.
Cuba: Ladies Arrested
Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense says that “the Castro dictatorship's strong-arm treatment of the Damas De Blanco (“Ladies In White”) continued over the weekend with the arrest of the three of the group's members.”
Cuba: Las Damas Targeted
“This month…is the sixth anniversary of the ‘black spring’ crackdown during which the Group of 75 human rights and democracy activists, journalists…and other dissidents were arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms”: Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense thinks “it is one of the better moments on the calendar to remind...
Cuba: Making Changes
Generation Y says of the recent changes in Cuba's Council of State and Ministers: “Changing the instruments doesn’t mean much, if the symphony being performed, and the director of the orchestra, are the same as before.”
Cuba: Changes in the Cabinet
Cuban president Raúl Castro replaced many ministers in his cabinet and Bloggers Cuba [es] has a complete roundup of these changes.
Bahamas: The State of the Economy
“The Bahamian economy is very likely to crash, and hard. And soon”: Nicolette Bethel makes a prediction.
Cuba: Machisimo
Havana-based Generation Y is “tired of macho wrapped in its olive green uniform” and longs “to switch to words like: prosperity, reconciliation, harmony, coexistence.”
