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The Cuban gazelle
By Desmond Boylan A mixture of gazelle and human is the impression Dayron gave me when he took off from where I was standing on the training grounds and jumped the first hurdle. He became tiny in the...
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Cockfighting in an anti-aircraft bunker
By Desmond Boylan In Cuba, it is legal to own fighting cocks, it is legal to train them, and it is legal to put them to fight, but one detail – all forms of betting and gambling are strictly forbidden...
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Home sweet (furtive) home
By Desmond Boylan People in Havana refer to migrant workers from eastern Cuba as “Palestinians.” They arrive in Havana and its outskirts to work and make an honest living, and stay. Many of them have...
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Transformer, Cuban style
By Desmond Boylan “I am 70-years-old and I still feel strong, but legally I can’t work as a taxi driver because of my age,” Gilberto Ruiz told me the first time I met him. I had asked him about his...
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Five stars or no stars, life is a beach
By Desmond Boylan The variety of options and price range for vacationing in Cuba, for either Cubans or foreigners, is vast. Let’s take the average Cuban family, with an income of roughly $20 (500...
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A modern witch
Havana, Cuba By Desmond Boylan At first sight, Mayra is a typical Cuban housewife, carrying out her daily chores as so many others. But she has another job apart from those housekeeping tasks, and when...
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Cubana sweet fifteen
Havana, Cuba By Desmond Boylan “I started saving up for my daughters’ quinceañera party [coming-out celebration for 15-year-olds] over five years ago,” says Marlen, the mother of Carmen, who reached...
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Inside Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba By Bob Strong My visit to the U.S. naval station in Guantanamo Bay Cuba began much like any other military embed. I sent an application to the Press Affairs Office (PAO) explaining...
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“I’ve never been in an elevator”
Havana, Cuba By Desmond Boylan Jesus Salgado, “Chinito”, was fished out of shark infested waters from a frail, sinking boat by a U.S. Coast Guard patrol near the Bahamas, back in 2003. He had finally...
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Fidel and Miss Green, till death do they part
Sagua La Grande, Cuba By Desmond Boylan I know a Cuban man named Fidel who is tall, well-built and hardworking. He is known to have had several wives and many girlfriends during his life, and now has a...
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Destination Cuba: Alongside empty seat 17A
Havana, Cuba By Maxim Shemetov I’ve never been to Cuba before. Frankly speaking, today is my first visit. It’s a very short one of only 24 hours, of which now I have only half left to walk around Old...
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Is it him, or is it not?
Havana, Cuba By Desmond Boylan Yesterday, a strong rumor that a delayed flight from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport due to land in Havana could be carrying fugitive former U.S. intelligence contractor...
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A child’s autistic world
Havana, Cuba By Enrique de la Osa When I arrived early at the Dora Alonso School, Julio came over, shook my hand and gave me the latest weather report. He did it with such precision that I didn’t know...
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