The embargo is a policy that causes suffering among the Cuban people, but the Cuban government’s posture causes even more suffering among the people. Before we discuss the embargo, which is an issue that divides Cuba’s peaceful opposition, we have to talk about the embargo that the Cuban government has imposed on its own citizens, said Guillermo Fariñas in his interview with DPA news.

Cuban troubadour Yolo Bonilla shares with us the details of his latest album, the first to ever achieve a fusion of Cuban music and the Brazilian style by rendering original versions of songs in the Portuguese language. “The idea came to me after a concert that was supposed to be a kind of farewell performance.”

One of Latin America’s most acclaimed writers, Eduardo Galeano is out with the new book, “Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History.” Galeano’s classic “Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent” made headlines when Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez gave President Obama a copy at the Summit of the Americas in 2009.

Energy affairs researcher Jorge Piñón, a Cuban-American who left the island during Operation Peter Pan and these many years later continues to talk in first-person-singular when referring to Cuba. Piñón has worked in the oil industry and was president for Latin America of AMOCO Oil Co.

Young Canadian performer Victoria Sol comes to the island to hone her musical studies, and in her appearances before the Cuban public, many have been surprised to hear a vocal style reminiscent of greats like Amy Winhouse.

After writing a post titled “The Serious Issue of Machismo”, I decided to approach a well-known attorney and former judge at the Tribunal Provincial Popular de la Habana in Centro Habana. She agreed to grant me an interview, provided she could remain anonymous (for she fears losing her current job). I will, thus, refer to her simply as Laura.

The best-selling Chilean novelist Isabel Allende is out with a new book, “Maya’s Notebook: A Novel.” It tells the story of a teenager named Maya Vidal and her struggles with drug addiction, grief and history. Although fiction, the story is rooted in real-life tragedy.

The Variety Show companies draw upon many of the artistic possibilities (theater, dance, circus art, mime, visual art, audiovisual presentation). However, their basis is purely musical, sampling from a variety of sources and thus escaping formal definition. The script doesn’t necessarily have a single unifying theme and the performance is totally eclectic.

“When we saw the call for participation, we were thrilled by the idea of taking our performance out to the street, to public spaces far from the stage, without charging admittance,” said Cyntia Moya, director of the Chilean theater troupe ‘Cyma’ at Havana’s City in Motion event.

“Raul Castro’s reforms are a step in the right direction. The problem is the pace and the scope of these reforms.” This is how Cuban blogger and activist Yoani Sanchez refers to the economic changes and other measures which Castro is introducing in Cuba, today under the close scrutiny of the international community.