Stories about Cuba from November, 2010
Cuba: Content of Cables
Along the Maleon says that the “Cablegate” cables that pertain to Cuba appear to be about the country's “political affairs, the country's relations with other countries and human rights.”
Cuba: The Remaining 11
As the Cardinal of Havana declares that the release of the remaining political prisoners is not in his hands, Uncommon Sense says: “The difficulty he faces in understandable. But what is indefensible is that at least publicly, he never comes across as a champion for those Cubans…”
Cuba: Reasons for Confiscation
Generation Y finds out that the reason copies of her book were confiscated, is because its contents “are against the general interests of the nation, since it argues that certain political and economic changes are required in Cuba so that its citizens may have more material benefits and achieve personal...
Cuba: Waiting in Vain?
“We are surrounded by a repression that does not sign papers, show its face, or place a stamp next to each act which violates its own law”: Generation Y is waiting for answers.
Cuba: Democratic Change?
“I don’t think capitalism is the model of a perfect life. But it is more logical and possible at this stage of human development”: Translating Cuba examines “the hard road to democracy”.
Cuba: 6th Congress
Sin Evasion and Translating Cuba both blog about the next Cuban Communist Party Congress, scheduled to take place in April next year.
Cuba: Rafters Hoping for a New Life
Laritza's Laws and Iván's File Cabinet both blog about Cuban rafters who risk it all for a chance at freedom.
Latin America: Travel E-Book Celebrates Latin America At Ground Level
Margaret Snook from Cachando Chile writes about Celebrating Latin America at Ground Level, a free e-book by Steven Roll from Travel Ojos: “a collection of tales from 29 expats and travel writers on just about every imaginable aspect of life in Latin America.”
Cuba: Fiber Optic Cable May Not Bring Greater Internet Access
Officials at Cuba’s Ministry of Informatics and Communications recently announced that a much-anticipated submarine fiber optic cable linking Venezuela, Cuba, and Jamaica, will be in operation by January of 2011. Although the cable’s 640 gigabytes will increase Cuba’s connectivity 3000-fold, it will not bring greater opportunities for Cuban citizens to access the Internet. Bloggers react.
Latin America: Music Blog “Club Fonograma” Reviews Latin American Music in English
Club Fonograma: We are Sudamerican Pop! is a music blog, written in English, that reviews Latin American music. Blog posts include audio or video of the band or singer being reviewed. They are on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and My Space.
Cuba: Before & After
Translating Cuba blogs about the two most over-used words in the country, adding: “There is a third reality that belies the stubborn reality: both Before and After contain everything.”
Cuba: Prisoners Still in Jail
Sin Evasion says of the missed deadline to release the remaining prisoners of conscience: “Once again, the government has proven that it doesn’t know how to honor its commitments.”
Cuba: A Call to Keep Up the Pressure
Uncommon Sense re-posts “an extraordinary interview” with one of the Damas de Blanco, who “calls on the international community to pressure the Castro dictatorship to free her husband and 12 other prisoners who have refused forced exile as a condition of their release.”
Cuba: Castro on Twitter
Along the Malecon thinks one of the reasons that Hugo Chavez has more Twitter followers than Fidel Castro is because “Internet use in Cuba much more restricted and expensive than it is in Venezuela.”
Cuba: The Remaining 13
“No individual Cuban not named Orlando Zapata Tamayo is more responsible for the release this year of 39 Cuban prisoners of conscience than Guillermo Farinas”: Uncommon Sense reports that the hunger striker will re-start his protest if Cuba does not release all the political prisoners as promised.
Cuba: Telecommunications, Internet Access, and US-Cuba Policy
US-based and US-affiliated telecom companies, which is to say, nearly all telecoms that offer service in the Caribbean, face severe restrictions in the US- Cuba embargo legislation, and this has put Cuba in a fundamental disadvantage for decades when it comes to telecommunications. The blogosphere reacts.
Cuba: Solidarity on the Net After Plane Crash
A plane crashed near the town of Guasimal, located some 15 kilometers from Sancti Spiritus province, in central Cuba. Sixty-eight people died. Minutes later, Cubans using Twitter started exchanging information on the deadly accident.
Cuba: Destino Cuba Tweeting on Plane Crash
@DestinoCuba [es] is tweeting the latest information on the plane crash that has left 68 people dead in the province of Sancti Spritus, in central Cuba. Also, constant updating on the Facebook account of Sancti Spritus newspaper Escambray [es].
Cuba: 68 Dead in Plane Crash
Blogger Yohandry Fontana [es] is posting updates with information on the AeroCaribbean flight that crashed yesterday near in the province of Sancti Spiritus province, in central Cuba, in which 68 people have reportedly died. Conversation on the tragedy is being tweeted under #sanctispiritus.
Cuba: Selling Your Soul
Octavo Cerco crosses paths with a writer whom she used to admire, who now “writes nonsense about Yoani Sánchez and even dares to call her a terrorist”; the encounter causes her to surmise: “I have no doubt: some souls die in life.”
Cuba: The Individual in the Collective
“Collectivization has not erased in us that human longing to have our own piece, and forced egalitarianism has only fueled the desire to differentiate ourselves”: Generation Y says many Cubans are searching for the “me” amidst the “we”.
