journalist
U.S. urges freedom for Granma journalist
Posted on Wednesday, 04.24.13 U.S. urges freedom for Granma journalist By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com The U.S. government urged Cuba Wednesday to free a former Granma newspaper reporter who was arrested after he wrote about the mismanagement of a government project and is now serving a 14-year prison sentence for spying. José Antonio Torres was [...] Continue reading
Jorge Olivera: The History of the Cuban Dissidence is Long
Jorge Olivera: The History of the Cuban Dissidence is Long / Ivan Garcia Posted on April 12, 2013 For someone from Havana, the best thing is to walk the streets in spring. These March days, Jorge Olivera Castillo, 52, poet and journalist, is delighted by the green of the trees, the salty aroma, and the [...] Continue reading
How Cuba became the newest hotbed for tourists craving sex with minors
Posted on Saturday, 03.16.13 Sex Tourism in Cuba: Second of three parts How Cuba became the newest hotbed for tourists craving sex with minors HAVANA — These stories are the result of a joint investigation by Toronto Star reporters Robert Cribb, Jennifer Quinn and Julian Sher, and El Nuevo Herald reporter Juan O. Tamayo. The [...] Continue reading
Canadians are major customers in Cuba’s child sex market
Canadians are major customers in Cuba's child sex market Canada is lax when it comes to stopping its sex offenders from going to Cuba and preying on underage prostitutes. Most tourists are drawn to Cuba by the sand, the sunshine, and the culture. But a few tourists – including some Canadians – are drawn by [...] Continue reading
What Fidel Taught Hugo Cuba defined Chávez’s career as much as Venezuela did
What Fidel Taught Hugo Cuba defined Chávez's career as much as Venezuela did BY FRANCISCO TORO Hugo Chávez died today in Venezuela at the age of 58, but his battle with a never-specified form of cancer was waged largely in a Cuban hospital—a telling detail, as Cuba loomed just as large in his political imagination [...] Continue reading
Journalist for Cuba’s Granma convicted of spying
Posted on Wednesday, 11.14.12 Journalist for Cuba's Granma convicted of spying José Antonio Torres was charged after writing about mismanaged public works project. By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com A journalist with Cuba's Granma newspaper was sentenced to 14 years in prison for spying, a charge filed soon after he reported on the government's mishandling of [...] Continue reading
Cubans Need Help Recovering From Hurricane Sandy
Cubans Need Help Recovering From Hurricane Sandy / Yoani SanchezTranslator: Unstated, Yoani Sanchez How You Can Help Hurricane Sandy has devastated the city of Santiago de Cuba and caused severe damage in several towns in the east of the country. The images of destruction speak for themselves, but the cameras barely manage to capture a [...] Continue reading
The Real Cost of Bureaucracy in Cuba
The Real Cost of Bureaucracy in Cuba Housing procedures are complex and protracted, but can be helped along with a bribe. By Calixto R. Martínez Árias – Latin America 19 Sep 12 For Cubans, getting anything done can be a real nightmare because of the amount of paperwork required. It can also be an expensive [...] Continue reading
Some Challenges Facing Cuba’s Press
Some Challenges Facing Cuba's Press September 17, 2012 Esteban Morales* HAVANA TIMES — Everything seems to indicate that there are now two presses in Cuba. There's one that some want all of us to read, and another one that reaches only 10 percent of the population (though summaries of it are broadcast over "Radio Bemba" [...] Continue reading
Cuba campaign takes on ‘free’ health care
Posted on Saturday, 08.25.12 Cuba campaign takes on 'free' health care By PETER ORSI Associated Press HAVANA — Cuba's system of free medical care, long considered a birthright by its citizens and trumpeted as one of the communist government's great successes, is not immune to cutbacks under Raul Castro's drive for efficiency. The health sector [...] Continue reading
Goodbye to the Blog: The Digital Controversy
Goodbye to the Blog: The Digital Controversy / Yoani Sánchez Translator: Unstated, Yoani Sanchez When a friend leaves… says a song performed by Alberto Cortez, it gets the tears flowing in anyone. Well, that sorrow of goodbye referred to in the song occurs not only when someone very close leaves. It also hurts when we [...] Continue reading
Foreign business in Cuba: Beware the dangerous embrace
Foreign business in Cuba: Beware the dangerous embrace Havana is at the same time attracting and terrifying entrepreneurs by Nancy Macdonald and Gabriela Perdomo on Wednesday, August 8, 2012 10:16am Until this spring, Stephen Purvis had it all. The British architect, who'd helped launch the Saratoga, Cuba's poshest hotel, was one of the more prominent [...] Continue reading
Cuban journalist who wrote exposé of bungled aqueduct project reportedly faces espionage charges
Posted on Wednesday, 07.18.12 Cuban journalist who wrote exposé of bungled aqueduct project reportedly faces espionage charges The Granma journalist wrote a hard-hitting expose of a bungled aqueduct project in eastern Santiago de Cuba. By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com A top Cuban journalist faces a 15-year prison sentence for spying, just two years after Raúl [...] Continue reading
On How to Turn a Bureaucrat into a Useful Person
On How to Turn a Bureaucrat into a Useful Person June 14, 2012 Fernando Ravsberg* HAVANA TIMES — Cuba needs to transform the civil service bureaucracy, a Spanish specialist in public administration issues told me. We immediately got into a long and involved conversation about what could be the key to that process. He claims [...] Continue reading
Corruption and the Morality of Survival / Dimas Castellano
Corruption and the Morality of Survival / Dimas CastellanoDimas Castellanos, Translator: Unstated Corruption — the action of corrupting — is the result of many causes, that range from personal conduct to the political-economic system of each country. It is an ancient social phenomenon to that occurs to a greater or lesser extent in all societies [...] Continue reading
Havana prisoner who took video transferred to isolation cell in notorious prison
Posted on Tuesday, 04.10.12 Havana prisoner who took video transferred to isolation cell in notorious prison José Daniel Ferrer García, a leading Cuban dissident arrested in eastern Santiago de Cuba last week, remains in police custody.By Juan O. Tamayojtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com An inmate who shot several videos inside a Havana prison to publicize its awful conditions has [...] Continue reading
Strange Reading About Corruption / Regina Coyula
Strange Reading About Corruption / Regina CoyulaRegina Coyula, Translator: Unstated Whenever I can, I read Fernando Ravsberg, BBC correspondent in Cuba. I can agree with him or not, but I prefer a range of opinions rather than the bi-color and mono-chord Granma (where the bi-color is not just for graphic design.) His work this last [...] Continue reading
Cuban inmates complain of poor conditions, food in video smuggled from Havana prison
Posted on Wednesday, 03.14.12 CUBA Cuban inmates complain of poor conditions, food in video smuggled from Havana prison By Juan O. Tamayojtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com Ten videos smuggled out of Cuba's biggest and reputedly worst prison, in an unusually daring operation by a dissident, show grotesquely dirty toilets, grimy walls, leaking sewage and food described as worse than [...] Continue reading
Beset by online surveillance and content filtering, netizens fight on
Beset by online surveillance and content filtering, netizens fight onPublished on Monday 12 March 2012. This report, which presents the 2012 list of countries that are "Enemies of the Internet" and "under surveillance," updates the report published on 12 March 2011. The last report, released in March 2011 at the climax of the Arab Spring, [...] Continue reading
Cuba’s Press: Dodging the Big Issues
Cuba's Press: Dodging the Big IssuesFebruary 16, 2012Fernando Ravsberg Granma newspaper constantly blames the people for the country's problems. Photo: Raquel Pérez HAVANA TIMES, Feb 16 — Would you trust a doctor who diagnosed you with a serious case of cancer and then, immediately afterwards, told you that you also had acne, and urgently prescribed [...] Continue reading
Cuban communists OK term limits for party and government officials
Posted on Monday, 01.30.12 Cuban communists OK term limits for party and government officials At the Cuban Communist Party's first national conference, term limits are approved for government and party officials.By Juan O. Tamayojtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com Cuba's Communist Party Sunday cleared the way for a long-term renovation of its Central Committee that might hint at the island's [...] Continue reading
The Pope’s Visit to Cuba: Expectations and Possibilities / Intramuros
The Pope's Visit to Cuba: Expectations and Possibilities / IntramurosIntraMuros Editorial 24The Catholic Church and the official press have announced that His Holiness the Pope Benedict XVI "is considering visiting Mexico and Cuba during the spring of the year 2012". At the same time, the spokesman of the Holy See has declared that the State [...] Continue reading
Cuba, or the Car’s Fifth Wheel / Iván García
Cuba, or the Car's Fifth Wheel / Iván GarcíaIván García, Translator: J.E.L. It's now known that the Castro brothers' government defends itself by attacking. When an independent journalist or alternative blogger writes about the other face of Cuba that the official media ignores, they jump at your neck like a spring. They use all kinds [...] Continue reading
Mine First: Of the Wolf and the Sheep / Regina Coyula
Mine First: Of the Wolf and the Sheep / Regina CoyulaRegina Coyula, Translator: Unstated With his La Plaga articles [regarding corruption in Cuba], the BBC journalist Fernando Ravsberg has passed his finger over a festering sore that afflicts our country: corruption, a phenomenon in which political pedigree supports the entitlement to important positions, and where [...] Continue reading
With Regards to the Theory of Rescuing Socialism / Miriam Celaya,Miriam Celaya, Translator: Norma Whiting
With Regards to the Theory of Rescuing Socialism / Miriam CelayaMiriam Celaya, Translator: Norma Whiting (Originally published in the Diario de Cuba dated August 3rd, 2011) The last five years in Cuba have been fruitful in the theoretical development of solutions to the country's severe problems, mainly those related to the ills of the economy [...] Continue reading
Corruption again alleged in Cuba
Posted on Tuesday, 08.09.11 Corruption again alleged in Cuba Reports: Two Cuban officials fired for corruption, others under investigationBy Juan O. Tamayojtamayo@elnuevoherald.com A corruption scandal in Cuba has led to the dismissals of two deputy ministers of communications and the head of the state's ETECSA telecommunications monopoly, according to reports Monday. Another senior official of [...] Continue reading