Miguel Arias’s Diary

Cuba is an underdeveloped or developing country, whatever one wants to call it. It is not a country that has large industries, it depends on revenue from tourism, tobacco, rum and sugar. And that it is not enough to cover our needs and resolve our problems.

Dawn broke in Havana’s Bahia neighborhood with some terrible news: the death of a 50-something-old-year-old man who a lot of people here knew. His name was Yoel Sarduy, and he was affectionately known as “El Friki”.

A long time before we learned that Trump would lift the waiver on Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, you could already sense that things were going to get worse; it was in the air, and people’s comments only confirmed this. There is even talk about another Special Period,…

Robberies here are becoming more and more frequent, and sometimes have fatal consequences. Luckily for us, the vast majority of Cubans are honest, hard-working and good-hearted people.

Even though we witness things every day that leave us speechless, some things stand out more than others and strike us a little more. If there is a place in Havana where things like this happen almost every day, then that’s at bus stops or even on buses.

Regla was hit by a tornado in January that showed them no mercy, destroying homes, factories and everything else it found in its path, leaving entire families without a roof over their heads or material belongings. Today the reconstructioin is well advanced.

It’s been almost two months since the last time I walked down San Rafael Boulevard, one of Havana’s busiest pedestrian streets, as hundreds of Cubans walk up and down it every day. bIt’s being totally made-over and even though they dug up the ground months ago, now they’ve dug it up again. We are also still waiting for the public bathrooms to be completed.

Over a month ago, Armando finished his early morning shift and we never heard anything from him again. Police have told his daughter that he doesn’t figure among the dead during this time, his other relatives and friends haven’t heard from him either. His wife is desperate.

Every year, we celebrate Teachers’ Day in Cuba on December 22nd. This date was chosen because it was the day that Cuba declared itself a nation free of illiteracy, after carrying out a literacy campaign organized by Fidel Castro in 1961. It deserves to be a day of celebration, but it should also be a day for us to reflect upon the importance of teachers within society.

There is a popular saying that goes: good things don’t last very long in a poor person’s home. Etecsa has confirmed that this is 100% true. A few months ago, Cuba’s only telecommunications company promoted a tempting offer for its customers: “The Friend Plan”.