police
Smuggling women from Cuba to Miami for sex gets pimp 30 years
Smuggling women from Cuba to Miami for sex gets pimp 30 years BY DAVID J. NEAL dneal@miamiherald.com Once Silvio “Jander” Morales smuggled six women from Camaguey, Cuba into Miami, he shed any niceties like a moulting anaconda losing skin. Morales constricted the women into prostitution by mushrooming their debt, threatening their families’ lives and even […] Continue reading
How Cuban State Security Intimidates Potential Informants
How Cuban State Security Intimidates Potential Informants / Iván García Iván García,9 April 2017 — They did not put a Makarov pistol to his head or torture him with electric prods. Let’s call him Josué. (The names in his article have been changed). He is a guy who wears American-made jeans, listens to jazz by […] Continue reading
The Cuban Regime Survives by Fear
The Cuban Regime Survives by Fear / Iván García Iván García, 21 March 2017 — In the slum of Lawton, south of Havana, the need for housing has converted an old collective residence with narrow passageways into a bunkhouse. With dividers made from cardboard or bricks recovered from demolished buildings, “apartments” have appeared where a […] Continue reading
We’ve Been Investigating Ivan Garcia for Five Years
“We’ve Been Investigating Ivan Garcia for Five Years” / Iván García Iván García Quintero, Havana, 19 March 2017 — When the summons arrived for an interview with a police official, the girl’s puzzled family thought it was a mistake. Let’s call them Kenia, Pedro, and Camila. They are neighbors of mine and prefer to remain […] Continue reading
An Illegal Business Operating Under Protection of the Castro Name
An Illegal Business Operating Under Protection of the Castro Name / Juan Juan Almeida Juan Juan Almeida, 9 February 2017 — In Cuba being a member of the Castro family is like having a modern-day license to commit piracy. This inalienable right comes in handy for the dynasty’s descendants, especially those born with the compound […] Continue reading
Prostitution – ‘extra pay’ for many police
Prostitution: ‘extra pay’ for many police GERÓNIMO GARCÍA | La Habana | 9 de Febrero de 2017 – 10:46 CET. “I don’t know why you’re surprised, when everybody knows that prostitution and pimping represent an extra salary for many police,” says Alexis. This young man, in his 30s, is a pimp who controls what he […] Continue reading
Normalizing The Communists Who Run Cuba Makes This Survivor Sick
Normalizing The Communists Who Run Cuba Makes This Survivor Sick Totalitarianism touches every aspect of every person’s life, and Cuban communism has been traumatic for adults and children not drunk with fanaticism. By Armando Simón JANUARY 16, 2017 Ever since the death of that psychotic dictator Fidel Castro, I have been experiencing déjà vu. At […] Continue reading
Tinder Turns La Rampa Into A Catwalk For Love
Tinder Turns La Rampa Into A Catwalk For Love / 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 30 December 2016 — “You have to show yourself like a peacock, with all your colors,” Tito, 22, explains to a friend who just downloaded the Tinder application onto his phone. The social dating network is sweeping the […] Continue reading
The Golden Dream of A Prostitute
The Golden Dream of A Prostitute / Cubanet, Gladys Linares Cubanet, Gladys Linares, Havana, 5 December 2016 — I don’t remember exactly how much time had passed since I’d seen Cristina, but it must have been more than three years, because today, when I saw her at the home of a mutual friend and asked […] Continue reading
Fidel Castro is dead
Fidel Castro is dead BY GLENN GARVIN ggarvin@MiamiHerald.com Fidel Castro, who towered over his Caribbean island for nearly five decades, a shaggy-bearded figure in combat fatigues whose long shadow spread across Latin America and the world, is dead at age 90. His brother Raul announced the death late Friday night. Millions cheered Fidel Castro on […] Continue reading
Why Do We Cubans Put Up With All This?
Why Do We Cubans Put Up With All This? / Cubanet, Roberto Jesús Quiñones Haces Cubanet, Roberto Jesús Quiñones Haces, Guantanamo, Cuba, 3 November 2016 — In talking to fellow countrymen and foreigners, the question comes up: Why do we Cubans have put up with so much abuse from the Castros? The question is raised […] Continue reading
Young Cuban women lured to Miami on promises of freedom, forced into prostitution
Young Cuban women lured to Miami on promises of freedom, forced into prostitution BY NORA GÁMEZ TORRES AND BRENDA MEDINA ngameztorres@elnuevoherald.com As a means to flee Cuba, six young women agreed to work in Miami as exotic dancers. That was the deal to pay off a $20,000 smuggling fee from the island to Mexico and […] Continue reading
The ‘scarecrow’ words Raúl Castro never said
The ‘scarecrow’ words Raúl Castro never said JORGE ENRIQUE RODRÍGUEZ | La Habana | 1 de Noviembre de 2016 – 11:08 CET. Until recently private-sector businesses in Havana hung, like scarecrows to frighten away menacing birds, signs featuring a phrase attributed to Raúl Castro, and the general never said a word to dispel this impression, […] Continue reading
Hidden Agenda Behind the Attack on Cuba’s Private Restaurants
Hidden Agenda Behind the Attack on Cuba’s Private Restaurants / Juan Juan Almeida Juan Juan Almeida, 24 October 2015 — Some news outlets echoed the words of the Vice President in charge of the Council of Provincial Administration for Havana, Isabel Hamze, when she exposed the Havana Government’s reasons for temporarily suspending the issue of […] Continue reading
Lashing Out Again Against Private Restaurants
Lashing Out Again Against Private Restaurants / Rebeca Monzo Rebeca Monzo, 24 October 2016 — The Peoples’ Powers and the Ministry of Internal Trade are mobilizing again against successful paladares — privately owned restaurants — using the excuse of corruption and drug sales. To clarify, it is true that some of these establishments, sadly, are […] Continue reading
Cuba’s Private Restaurant Owners are Worried
Cuba’s Private Restaurant Owners are Worried / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar 14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana 20 October 2016 — Chinese, Italian or international food fill the menus of Cuban paladares, but lately fear has starred as the main dish on the menu of these private restaurants. The jewel in the crown of entrepreneurship on the island […] Continue reading
Cuba suspends new licenses for private eateries and warns of tighter control
Cuba suspends new licenses for private eateries and warns of tighter control By Abel Fernández staff@InCubaToday.com The Cuban government has temporarily suspended the issuance of new licenses for private restaurants, popularly known as paladares, and has intensified the scrutiny of those already operating in Havana, warning owners that they must obey established regulations, Reuters reported […] Continue reading
Tallies and Tales of the Reforms
Cuba: Tallies and Tales of the Reforms / Vicente Botín Once upon a time… A female cat fell in love with a handsome young man and prayed to the goddess Aphrodite to turn her into a woman. The goddess, pitying the cat’s yearning, transformed her into a beautiful maiden, and the young man, captivated by […] Continue reading
Laritza Diversent, Devastated by the Police Operation Against Cubalex
Laritza Diversent, Devastated by the Police Operation Against Cubalex / Iván García Ivan Garcia, 28 September 2016 — After passing the crossing of La Palma, two kilometers from the old bus stop of Mantilla, El Calvario is found nestled, a district of one-story houses, roads without asphalt and a multitude of dogs without owners. At […] Continue reading
Havana – Tourism Boom Leads to Increase in Prostitution
Havana: Tourism Boom Leads to Increase in Prostitution / Iván García Ivan Garcia, 22 September 2016 — Empty bottles of rum and Domincan beer lie scattered around the courtyard as five people drink and talk about sports and business. A Reggaeton tune, “Until the Malecon Runs Dry” by Jacob Forever, plays in the background. Meanwhile, […] Continue reading
Where Hip Hop Fits in Cuba’s Anti-Racist Curriculum
Where Hip Hop Fits in Cuba’s Anti-Racist Curriculum The country’s education leaders confront deep-seated discrimination in the classroom through rap. Alexandre Meneghini / Reuters I was sitting with the Afrocentric rapstress Magia López Cabrera in her modest Havana walk-up in June when Cuba’s prominent black-history scholar Tomás Fernández Robaina showed up for a café con […] Continue reading
Three Months Later, The Residents Of Havana Still Remember Obama
Three Months Later, The Residents Of Havana Still Remember Obama / Iván García Iván García , 22 June 2016 — The park at Galiano and San Rafael is a beehive of activity. At one end, several teenagers play soccer, using a school desk as the goal, while 50 men and women are connecting to the […] Continue reading
The Persistence of Racism in Cuba
The Persistence of Racism in Cuba May 21, 2016 By Alberto N Jones HAVANA TIMES — The 1994 rafter crisis, changed the face of the Cuban emigration and the strategy of the United States government to puncture and weaken the Cuban government, when the predominantly white emigrants suddenly became black and brown. Surprised, the mass […] Continue reading
Castro Inc. – Cuba as Family Business
Castro Inc.: Cuba as Family Business 04/04/2016 10:28 am ET | Updated 22 hours ago Daniel Williams Author of “Forsaken: The Persecution of Christians in Today’s Middle East,” available from O/R Books. Everyone is all aflutter about the coming changes for Cuba now that US President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro have attended a […] Continue reading
Girls For Sale
Girls For Sale / 14ymedio, Pedro Acosta Posted on March 10, 2016 14ymedio, Pedro Acosta, Havana, 9 March 2016 – The teenage girl looks at the display window of CUPET at Santa Catalina and Vento with greedy eyes, a girl hungry for candy. She is tall, thin and fragile. She looks at me and seems […] Continue reading
This isn’t news, it’s counterrevolution
“This isn’t news, it’s counterrevolution” PABLO PASCUAL MÉNDEZ PIÑA | La Habana | 7 Dic 2015 – 2:39 pm. “The money, you dick!” was heard, followed by a clamor. Then a succession of confused screams and the boos and cheers of protesters. It was November 30, and a crowd of close to 500 people clogged […] Continue reading
Prostitution in Cuba – Solutions to Today’s Reality (Part 2)
Prostitution in Cuba: Solutions to Today’s Reality (Part 2) / Somos+ Posted on November 16, 2015 Somos+, Jose Manuel Presol, 4 November 2015 — The Cuba of tomorrow will have to face this situation, which cannot be resolved, certainly, in a 24-hour effort. The deterioration caused by half a century of ineptitude and corruption cannot […] Continue reading
Don’t ignore Cuba’s role in human trafficking
Don’t ignore Cuba’s role in human trafficking Report says pressure led to better ranking in State Dept. report. Cuba a popular site for ‘sex tourism,’ critics say. Department says its reporting was thorough and fact-based. BY FRANK CALZON cubacenter.org Continued international trafficking of people and the sexual abuse of minors are two of the world’s […] Continue reading
Prostitution in Cuba – Solutions to a Current Reality (Part 1)
Prostitution in Cuba: Solutions to a Current Reality (Part 1) / Somos+, Jose Manuel Presol Posted on November 7, 2015 “How can we get out of school to meet foreigners?” Somos+, Jose Manuel Presol, 3 November 2015 — I’ll never forget a comment from my father: “Jose Manuel, remember we made the Revolution, among other […] Continue reading